The truth about hypothermia

Terry Tomalin, suffering from hypothermia during the Everglades Challenge canoe adventure, is aided by George Stovall. [DOUGLAS R. CLIFFORD | Times]

How can a veteran outdoorsman with state of the art foul weather gear get hypothermia in the middle of a 300-mile outrigger can trip. The answer is simple, if you can do the math.

Paddle a canoe or kayak at high speed for hours on end and you are going to burn some calories. Aaron Freedman, a.k.a., Air Doc, is a veteran outdoors racer. Once, in the infamous coast-to-coast adventure race across the state of Florida, Freedman and his teammates got hypothermia on a 95 degree day.

"It was at the end of the race," he explained. "We were all exhausted and pretty well burned out. We got off the bikes and it started to rain. That was all it took."

If you continue to burn more calories than you take in, sooner or later, your body will be at an energy deficit. Stop moving for a few minutes and your internal furnace may go out. Once it goes out, it is hard to get it lit again.

Freedman estimates that we burned about 600 calories an hour, and at 20 hours a day, that is 12,000 calories.

"How much food is that?" I asked Freedman after we stopped at the Naples Pier snack bar. "About three hot dogs an hour," he replied.

Complicating the issue was my excessive consumption of caffeine. Dr. George Stovall, a.k.a., Sandspur, had told me to lay off the Red Bull. But in the week before the race, I never got more than four hours of sleep a night. Caffeine, my presumed savior, ended up being my downfall.

Tomorrow: The rest of the fleet.

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