It was not a good day for the beach at Walnut Beach in Milford or anyplace else in New England on Tuesday Jan. 25. But don’t try and tell an experienced sea kayaker that. Mike Falconeri of Wallingford didn’t care if the wind was whipping off Long Island Sound at 15 miles per hour with an air temperature of 30 degrees for an 11 degree wind-chill, not to mention the 41- degree water temperature.

He and his friend, Phil Warner of Hampden, Mass., were there to prove a point – that if you’re dressed for the weather, it doesn’t really matter what the temperature is. They knew that their chances of getting hypothermia (subnormal body temperature) were minimal. Both were dressed for the conditions: neoprene hoods and gloves, both a quarter inch thick; a full Gore-Tex dry suit with rubber gaskets at the neck, ankles and wrists to keep water out and four layers of synthetic fleece of varying thickness. The fleece is necessary because it wicks perspiration away from the skin. Anything made of cotton when wet, is useless as insulation.

After launching their sea kayaks, they cavorted in the water for about half an hour. Both executed deft Eskimo rolls (turning the boat turtle and righting it while still in the cockpit). They also conducted self-rescues. After falling out of the cockpit into the water, they inflated a small paddle float, slid it onto the paddle blade, attached the paddle to the kayak and pushed off the floating paddle to re-enter the cockpit. Although they weren’t shivering after emerging from the water, they did enjoy a cup of hot chocolate in dry clothes.

"I was never really cold out there," said Falconeri, a registered Maine guide who has been paddling 20 years. He teaches sea kayaking and leads coastal and river sea kayak tours for Urban Eskimo Kayaking out of his house.

"There was the momentary shock of the cold water in the face. As long as I was able to keep moving, keep paddling, I could generate enough body heat to keep warm." "But if you don’t exercise, don’t keep moving, you can still have all those clothes on in the water or out, and after several hours you will probably die," he added.

Things didn’t go so smoothly for Frank McKane Jr., who writes about fishing, hunting and other outdoor activities for Sporting Life, on an ice fishing outing on a frozen New Hampshire lake 10 years ago. He was dressed for ice fishing (thermal-cotton long johns, cotton sweatshirt all covered by wind-proof snowmobile insulated coveralls, wool hat, one pair of wool socks and thick Sorel pack boots). Accompanying his brother and a friend several hundred yards off shore, he left them, and walked 50 yards off to drill a hole but ended up falling through the ice.

"It was like the roadrunner cartoon," McKane said. "All of a sudden, the bottom’s gone. I went down to my chest, but caught the edge of the ice and stopped." He had fallen into a spring hole. While the ice over most of the spring-fed lake was a safe eight inches thick, this spot was an un-safe two inches thick because of the feeding spring underneath.

McKane was following a snowmobile track on the otherwise clear lake and failed to notice the telltale color of the ice change from thick white to a darker color where it grew thinner. But he was out quickly with the help a pair of $5 hand-sized ice picks that he bought in a sporting goods store and had slung around his neck for just such an emergency. With the help of a rope his companions threw, he was out in less than a minute.

"It felt like I was in the water for an eternity," McKane said. "I was half way out with the picks, and I pulled on the rope the rest of the way. I think if I was in any longer, I wouldn’t have been able to grab the rope. I probably would have gotten out without the rope, but it was nice to have." Although it was a sunny day, his clothes quickly froze as he hobbled back to the cab of his pick up truck. After changing into a set of dry clothes, he walked back to resume ice fishing for the rest of the day.

"I’m glad it wasn’t windy," McKane said. "If it was, I would have been done for the day. But I was still pretty cold by the time I got to that truck." The two vignettes both tell of people prepared to fight hypothermia.

But too often, people go out in winter, whether hiking, ice skating, ice fishing or even boating, who are not aware of hypothermia and what it can do. Basically, hypothermia sets in when the normal body temperature of 98.6 degrees goes below 95 degrees. Any sign of shivering shows that the body is fighting to keep warm. When shivering stops it means the body has run out of energy to counteract the lowering temperature. That means the person can be near death.

"Water takes heat away from you 25 times faster than air," said Frank Disbrow, boating safety director for the state Department of Environmental Protection, the agency that teaches river and ice rescue courses to police and fire departments around the state.

"Body core temperature depends on the person," Disbrow said. "It depends how much body fat you have and how much fight you have in you." He remembers stepping through a spring hole in a marsh by a river outlet while hunting in Wisconsin during the winter of 1963. Only falling to his waist, he made it to his truck through the wind. He drove a mile to the nearest house where the couple inside sat him on a wood stove and cut away his frozen clothes to thaw him out for the next four hours.

"I would never wish that experience on anybody," Disbrow said. "What I remember most was my bones ached for weeks after that." He recommended the safe minimum thickness to walk on ice is four inches. A good rule of thumb is only go on ice where other people are walking or skating already.’ If walking with someone on the ice and the other person falls through, back off from that area so you don’t fall through yourself. The best rescue with just one other person is to lie on the ice to distribute the weight evenly. Don’t reach hand-to-hand but use a stick, rope or some other object.

"If you’re not careful, he can pull you in too," Disbrow said. "If that person in the water is not pulled out in less than a minute, he’ll probably be too weak to hold on. Then you’ll really need help. It’s probably best to first call 911 on your cell phone or the closest phone and get the professionals out as fast as possible." "Once you’re wet, you’re a block of ice, and it’s hard to move in the open air," Disbrow noted. "Get to shelter, get warm and get a change of clothes."

Dr. Joseph Wilkinson, Bridgeport Hospital emergency medicine physician, described how a hypothermic patient is treated on arrival in the Emergency Room. First body core temperature is taken with special rectal thermometer. Body temperature from 92 degrees up is considered mild to moderate hypothermia. Two types of re-warming are in order: passive, or bringing the patient out of the cold into a warm area, wrapping in blankets and a warm liquid like soup or water.

From 92 to 85 degrees when the person is usually lethargic or woozy calls for active or external re-warming. The person is put in heated blankets or a warm sleeping bag with warm water bags on the arm pits, chest and groin. Below 85 degrees probably means the patient is unconscious and will not respond to external re-warming. Then it’s time for active core re-warming in which the patient has to be warmed internally. This is done through warm intravenous fluids. If unconscious, a tube can be inserted through the nose or mouth blowing moist warm air to actively re-warm the patient’s core.

"We could also do a hemodialysis with the help of a kidney specialist," Wilkinson said. "That’s when we recirculate the patient’s blood through a warm bath. People are usually back to normal in three to four hours when the temperature is in the low 90s. When it’s in the mid 80s, they’re not warmed up until about six or seven hours."

He noted that perspiration in cold is dangerous. This is why it’s important to dress in thin layers that can be peeled away as the going gets warmer in activities like hiking or cross country skiing. "The big problem is being cold and wet," said Wilkinson. "You lose body heat much faster when wet. It’s best not to wear cotton but fleece fabric that wicks moisture away from your skin."

So go out and enjoy the winter. And remember, the best way to stay warm is to stay dry.

Here is advice from the Appalachian Mountain Club on avoiding hypothermia (subnormal body temperature) that can kill if not curbed. You can be in danger if your temperature goes below 95 degrees, with normal temperature 98.6 degrees.

Wear a synthetic layer closest to your skin to wick away moisture from perspiration. When you stay cold and wet in adverse conditions, you can suffer hypothermia.

You can avoid hypothermia if you guard against dehydration, fatigue, cold winds, wet clothes and are aware of the symptoms. Your body automatically begins to shiver to re-warm itself. As your energy is used up to keep warm, you may reach a point where your body will be unable to re-warm itself. If left untreated, your body will gradually shut down and you can die.

Symptoms include slurred speech, loss of coordination, confusion, apathy and irrational behavior.