SEQUIM – The water temperature at John Wayne Marina measured a chilly 48 degrees Saturday morning.
That’s too cold for swimming, or even a quick dip.
But when Sequim resident Bob Duncan jumped into the marina’s water around noon, he planned to spend the next 25 hours there – and be plenty comfortable doing it.
He’ll have help, of course.
Duncan has spent the past four years trying to develop a coldwater survival suit that will allow people to stay warm for hours or even days if they’re stranded in cold ocean waters.
The result is the Breathe4Life suit, and he’s been traveling from place to place in the Pacific Northwest and using himself as a guinea pig in demonstrations.
The suit is based on a simple idea – recycling the heat from a person’s exhaled breath to keep the creeping chill of the surrounding water at bay.
“It’s almost like you’re fooling your body,” Duncan said Saturday while floating in shallow water by the marina’s boat slips.
The suit is waterproof and has a flotation device that helps the wearer remain face up in the water.
A breathing tube funnels exhaled air into bladders in the suit’s back, which is where the body would come in contact with the water. There’s also an exhaust vent into a handwarming tube on the suit’s chest.
A person wearing the suit would have to refresh the air in the bladders every 10 to 15 minutes to keep the level of warmth constant.
Conventional survival suits – often called “Gumby suits” because people wearing them look like the animated character – rely on insulation and conservation of body heat, Duncan said, and can only be counted on for a short period of time. In tests so far, Duncan has spent up to 18 hours in the water using his invention.
The Coast Guard estimates that a person in a Gumby suit retains “functional consciousness” for no more than 2 hours, which often does not allow enough time for rescuers to arrive.
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