A Salty Dog in Tablet Form

Today I'm thinking about the problem of heat, wind, dehydration, and exhaustion. I'd already mentioned that I expect to experience very hot weather conditions on our trip and I'm trying to make sure that I properly prepare both Mary and myself for what's ahead this summer. I don't want extreme discomfort to become a distracting problem that ruins the enjoyment of our trip.

Ditch Witch Cable Plow

In spite of my efforts it's been hard for me to get a practical feeling of how the heat will effect us. All of us have experienced hot days and I, in my youthful years, had worked outdoors in the summertime as I'm sure many of you had too. I clearly remember being hot but I don't remember getting overly concerned about it or for that matter ever paying mind to any special measures or methods to protect myself.  Let me correct that last statement. Long ago I had a boss at the telephone company where I had been working and he was always pushing salt pills on me. My job was operating a Ditch-Witch cable plow. This machine buried the phone wire that runs through many backyards and it was really hot and dirty to operate. It shook the ground violently as its giant knife blade cut the ground open and threaded a wire down underground a few feet deep. I could make it to about 4 houses in a day and was usually at it everyday until 7PM for the three months of summer. Even as a kid I was worn out at the end of the day. As I've reflected on these memories over the years I cannot help but wonder what those salt pills the boss gave me were supposed to be doing?

The occasion of this boat trip got me looking into this matter of body "salts" and I quickly learned that the common advice given is against the use salt tablets. What? Don't take salt pills!  I never liked that boss at the phone company and why am I not surprised when now I realize he was feeding me salt pills the same way he was putting gas into that Ditch-Witch. Just keep us running all day long for as long as the summer, or the machine, or I lasted.  But I'm not bitter about this because, you see, that summer is long gone, the machine is surely junk, but I'm still here.

Now take a look at this story.

1941 Magazine Article Offering Advice to Golfers

In defense of my old boss, as he was a person of his times, the article above clearly promotes the use of salt pills and does so rather casually. Sometime between 1941 and today the wisdom of using salt pills has changed and maybe I've been too harsh. The old boss could have been on solid ground in the 1970's and the science behind this article might have supported him.

Speaking of science, did you take note of the line midway down the left hand column? It says, "The old custom of shaking salt into one's beer is good science".  A person has to pay attention when the words beer and science are used in the same sentence and, while I don't particularly like salt in my beer, it still leaves me wanting to know more about the, "good science" of 1941. Could it really be that different than today's?  I suspect not and I've run into this phenomenon before, where, what once was OK is now not OK. Sometimes we can, I believe, chalk this up to our attitudes on taking risks.  When before we were almost casual in providing advice that benefits the majority in the center of the bell curve, today the advice is adjusted to protect the smaller group in the tails of the bell curve. That's a fancy way of saying, be careful with broad claims and be sure to CYA by pointing out all the exceptions.  Did you ever see those TV advertisements for a new prescription pill?  That's what I'm talking about!

Salt Tablets are
 NOT 
Recommended

A Modern Day 
Convenience
Drink

So if I'm to be a man of my times then I'll have to put salt pills on the prohibited list and turn my focus instead to applying today's principles of ensuring personal safety in hot conditions. It's easy to find a lot of information on the Internet on this topic and it all pretty much comes down to the same basic thing.  Drink lots of water and don't wait until your thirsty. You have to drink ahead of your thirst to be safe. If you detect cramping etc then the advice it to consume a sports drink and get cooled down ASAP. I believe these drinks are a pre-balanced, modern convenience, with the right mixture of water and salts for a normal person. The guess work of proper fluid intake is eliminated.

The wind constantly blowing against us while underway also enters into the discussion of protecting ourselves against the heat and dehydration. I remember hot days riding my motorcycle and while in motion everything feels reasonably nice. Once over 10-15 MPH the breeze keeps you comfortable but when you stop it's quite a different story, especially if you're sitting in traffic on a hot street. While stopped the temperature change floods your senses as the heat seems to close in on you from every direction. The sun above, the street below, and the cars nearby join forces and surround you in a conspiracy to cook you alive.  And if this heat alone isn't enough, a hidden and insidious effect, even while in motion, is working to put your body under more stress.  It's not readily apparent but you're loosing moisture at a high rate due to the wind. It's fooling you by making you feel comfortable but its stealing your fluids as you roll happily along. If you don't pay attention you're eventually headed for trouble. I've felt the beginnings of this before and it usually starts with a headache and shakiness. When I found myself at this point it was certain I'd waited too long and the only fix I recall was an over night's rest and to drink until my tummy ached.   In the Blue Fin this dehydration effect will be happening for hours at a time and we must guard against it. On the motorcycle I'd wear a jacket and pants for safety and this would help reduce the loss of fluids through my skin. On the boat we'll be dressed lightly so body exposure will be great and correspondingly so will our fluid loss. Again though, the fix is simple and we'll follow the recommended advice of drinking and then drinking some more.

A good idea on a hot day

Now all this advice seems good enough except when we're at a dam sitting in the sun at 3:30 on a July afternoon on the stagnant leeward side of a lock gate and the temp is 96. We can drink but we're trapped in the heat and the only choice is to wait the 20-40 minutes to finish the lock-through. There will be no good way to get to cooler conditions as suggested above. I'll be working on a solution to this problem and I've already decided if I cannot find cooler conditions then I'm going to manufacture my own. I'll be mounting two fans on the center console of the boat that I can operate at times when we're sitting still. It's not air conditioning but it's better than nothing.

Please understand that I don't dread the warm days that I expect to experience and I'm actually looking forward to the days of summer sitting here in a record cold March dreaming of them.  As I grow older I'm bothered less by the heat and I'd choose a warm day, any day, over a cold day. That would not have been so 20 years ago. I look at this change as if my body has been going through a long conditioning process that, after 59 years, leaves it perfectly suited for a warm summer trip like this and I feel compelled to take advantage of the benefit I've been handed. Ahhh,  90+ degrees, sunny, and the wind in my face.

 I wonder if I should ask Mary if she thinks she's been conditioned by age to withstand the heat? She hates to sweat and claims to have done so only a few times in her life.  I've never offered her a verbal response when she brings this up but the thought running through my mind is, " either you've done an amazing job of avoiding hard work or you should see a doctor about your condition".  I'm betting I'll see her sweat next July and I'll be sure to capture it in a photo as proof of a rare event.