BE SAFE AROUND COLD WATER THIS YEAR!

The Canadian Safe Boating Council hosts both in person and virtual workshops facilitated by Dr. Gordon Giesbrecht (aka Professor Popsicle) of the University of Manitoba and world-renowned expert in hypothermia.

To find out more about taking part in our next workshop or to host your own for your organization, click here.

Maybe you’re just interested in finding out a little more about how our bodies react to cold water immersion. You may be a first responder wanting to learn more about how to maximize the survival of potentially hypothermic individuals you’re called upon to rescue, these workshops are for you. These give you a great grounding in the following:

• Understanding the Myths Around Cold Water Immersion and Hypothermia
  
  
• How Our Bodies React to Heat and Cold Stimuli
  
  
• 4 Ways Our Bodies Lose Heat
  
  
• What Happens to Our Bodies When Immersed in Cold Water
  
  
• Immersion vs. Submersion in Cold Water
  
  
• Cold Water Survival and Thermal Protective Clothing
  
  
• How to Get Back in Your Boat Should You Fall Overboard and are Alone
  

• Basic First Response… When You’re The Only One Who Can Help!
  
  
• Victim Extraction, Packaging, Triage and Transport to EMS
  

• The Decision to Stay or Swim When You’re on Your Own

• Ice Assisted and Self-Rescue
  

Virtual Workshops

Our virtual workshops are held over two evenings totaling 5 hours. The cost to register is $100.
Please note that the course instruction will be in English only. Workshops are 8-10:30 pm ET

We are in the process of planning another Cold Water workshop for later this year.

For more information, contact Ian Gilson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

In-Person Workshops

Please note that the in-person Cold Water Workshops in Flin Flon, MB on June 14 and June 15, 2023 have been cancelled due to lack of interest at this time.

We will be hosting a 1-Day (General Interest) and 2-day (Instructor) Cold Water Immersion/Rescue Workshops on September 24 & 25, 2023 from 8:30 am – 4:00 pm.

Those wishing to register for an In-Person workshop can do so for the following dates:

Sept. 24, 2023 - General Interest

Sept. 24-25, 2023 - Instructor 

Location: Royal Newfoundland Yacht Club (108 Greenslades Rd, Conception Bay South, NL A1W 3J1)

Cost:  1-Day (General Interest)  - $185 – September 24, 2023. Lunch is included.
Cost:  2-Day (Instructor) - $400 – September 24 & 25, 2023. Lunch is included.

Instruction will be in English. Mornings will be spent in class while afternoons will be dockside.

Cold Water Workshop topics include:

Mechanisms of Heat Loss, Thermal Protection Realities, Extraction Techniques, Triage of Hypothermic Victims, Re-Warming, Packaging, Transport and more.

The Instructors’ Course will provide the tools you need to successfully teach first responders the proper rescue and re-warming techniques that are necessary to hope save lives.

For either of the in-person workshops, the participants are encouraged to bring their own boats, if desired, to make the demonstration even more effective. (Please contact Ian Gilson if you wish to do so)

Registrants should bring their own lifejackets. Please advise if you need one to be supplied.

To find out more about each of these opportunities, please contact Ian Gilson (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)

We will continue offering in-person workshops to educate people on the dangers of cold water immersion based on demand. If you are interested in participating in an in-person workshop in the future, please contact Ian Gilson (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) and he will get in touch with where and when the next workshop is planned.

We are still running a full slate of virtual workshops this fall and winter. These workshops cover the same content of our in-person workshops, but without the hands-on and instructor components.

We have plenty of additional cold water resources available, including the Cold Water Boot Camp and Beyond Cold Water Boot Camp DVDs, available for purchase at https://csbc.ca/en/cold-water-dvd-s