Hypothermia Among Friends

The water at Nauset Beach today was 58 degrees. I don't know enough about average water temperatures to know if that is particularly cold, but it was a good 10 degrees colder than a few days ago. However, my skin did not go numb while I was swimming this afternoon, as it sometimes does, so I know that it was not an extraordinarily cold water day.

I have to admit that I enjoy standing at the edge of the ocean, along with all of the other adults, as their children play in the chilly water. They shake their heads and look baffled at the kids' bravery/hardiness/insanity. I blend in with them, until suddenly I walk quickly into the water, all the way up to my neck. They are surprised, but going in all at once is the only way to get into such cold water. Also, if you don't move quickly beyond the braking point of the waves, they will knock you over.

Today I walked in near an older man wearing a wetsuit. He saw me and said, in a thick Boston accent, "Yah really tuff!"