Woman Washed Off Breakwater and Into Lake Superior

In early November 2025, several people were f’ing around on a breakwater during a gales warning on Lake Superior, and they were about to find out. Waves ranged from 10 to 12 feet, and they were breaking over the breakwater. A large enough wave hit and washed one of the group into Lake Superior. The video below shows the wave and the woman getting washed into the big lake. Water temps were around 50°F, which is very cold. Luckily, she survived. While I’ve written about cold water before, this was a good reminder to write about it again. Cold water immersion is an issue that paddlers need to understand.

In the comments on social media after I posted about the incident, a bunch of people commented about how hypothermia will kill you. Yes, it will, but hypothermia takes awhile. Most people don’t understand the other dangers of cold water exposure. Before suffering from hypothermia, you’ll first go through cold shock and then cold incapacitation. These states are deadly. If you survive, then you’ll move onto hypothermia unless you get to safety quickly.

Cold shock happens immediately after you hit the cold water. It’s a hyperventilating-like effect, and your vitals spike. If you breathe in water while suffer from cold shock, you’ll likely drown instantly. You could also suffer from other issues, such as a heart attack, and drown.

If you survive, the cold water sucks the ability of your body to function, and as cold instantly impacts all your body’s systems, your extremities stop working and you become incapacitated and can’t swim. This can happen quickly and within minutes. Without floatation, you die. Most cold water drownings happen within a few meters of safety.

If you have some type of flotation to keep you alive, as your body cools down, you become hypothermic.

If you survive the cold shock, which she did, then cold incapacitation will likely get you before hypothermia, especially without a life vest on. It almost got her, but a nearby fisherman managed to pull her out of the water after she was exhausted by the short swim and couldn’t pull herself out of the water. But you aren’t out of danger at this point. 

At this point, people may think they are in the clear, but they aren’t. There’s the possibility of post-rescue collapse. During this collapse people may suffer a drop in blood pressure, heart failure, and they can lose consciousness. Any abrupt unexpected exposure to cold water, should be followed up at the hospital.

To survive cold water, you need to get out of the water as quickly as possible. Don’t Panic! Get your breathing under control, and swim or get on top of something. 

Every year, people die in cold water because they aren’t prepared. This often happens to boaters, including paddlers, in the spring. If you have to go out onto cold water, wear a life vest, wear either a dry suit or a thick wetsuit, stay near shore, and be prepared for an accidental capsize. Don’t risk the waves like the woman in the video did. Don’t risk cold water. It isn’t worth it. 

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