The chop thing was really surprising to me at the time, which is part of my point. I'd been swimming in the Gulf of Maine for years without any problem, and I didn't anticipate trouble. But the wind was really screwy and I kept aspirating salt water, and things turned bad much faster than I expected. I do agree, however, that better rough water swimming technique would have helped.
My wetsuit is good but relatively light, and I was testing it under controlled circumstances. I'm a river kayaker, a sport which involves working hard in warm air before suddenly getting plunged into a cold river. It's the sudden transition that can cause cold shock:
The second link mentions cases of sea kayakers who were dead within seconds of overturning. Cold shock happens much faster than hypothermia.
Fortunately, both of my misadventures happened under controlled circumstances with a backup plan. But in both cases, I was surprised and scared at how quickly I lost my ability to swim. The interactive video we're discussing actually captures the feeling pretty well.
I've never felt it was particularly difficult to swim in the sea. I wonder why that is.
Two reasons come to mind:
1) Since I was a kid, sea-side vacations in the summer were common-place to the point that I actually learned how to swim in the sea. I still remember how surprised I was at the difficulty of swimming in a pool where you are much less buoyant. No salt in the water and all that.
And 2) Maybe I just haven't swam in choppy enough water. But I do remember that when waves are a certain height above your head, having a surfboard at hand suddenly makes life so much easier. Although even then I didn't feel a particular propensity to inhaling water.
edit:
3) I learned several techniques for swimming in place and resting when you're tired. If push comes to shove, you can also just lay on the water pretty much indefinitely. This one doesn't work if the water is too choppy though.
4) I probably haven't swam in a super cold sea yet. Think the coldest I've done without a wetsuit was Monterey Bay last summer where I managed to skinny dip for some half an hour or so.
I'm the same as you, but that's because I literally grew up on the beach in New Zealand, and swum nearly all year round. When I was older, we moved to the Gold Coast, Australia and I surfed nearly every day for my entire teenaged years; work gets in the way but I still surf as often as possible.
The one thing though, is that even with that time in the water, not having a lifejacket on a boat is absolutely foolish. The cold water really does shock your body into immobility, no matter how good of a swimmer you are. It's scary as hell.
My wetsuit is good but relatively light, and I was testing it under controlled circumstances. I'm a river kayaker, a sport which involves working hard in warm air before suddenly getting plunged into a cold river. It's the sudden transition that can cause cold shock:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_shock_response
http://www.seakayak.ws/kayak/kayak.nsf/0/9ABAF7D7992B8205852...
The second link mentions cases of sea kayakers who were dead within seconds of overturning. Cold shock happens much faster than hypothermia.
Fortunately, both of my misadventures happened under controlled circumstances with a backup plan. But in both cases, I was surprised and scared at how quickly I lost my ability to swim. The interactive video we're discussing actually captures the feeling pretty well.