You can't get warm after a session

In the water your body pulls blood in towards the core and holds it there. You feel fine, sometimes better than fine. The moment you get out and start moving around, that cold surface blood circulates back inwards and your core temperature drops further — twenty, thirty minutes after the session, in the car park, in the queue for coffee. That is after-drop, and on this coast it catches experienced swimmers as often as first-timers.

Wind makes it worse than water temperature does. Big Bay water sits cold most of the year, but it is the south-easter on a wet wetsuit that strips the last of the heat out of you.

Get out of the wet gear before you get into the car, not after. A dry base layer, a windproof top, a beanie and dry socks do more than anything on our shelves. Cover the head and neck early.

Warm drink, yes. Something to eat, also yes — the shivering itself burns through what you have. Simple carbohydrate first because it is quick, then something with protein in it when you get home. You are refuelling, not detoxing.

Move gently. Walking around beats standing still. Hard effort straight out of cold water is not the shortcut people think it is.

A very hot shower straight away feels like the answer and often makes the drop worse: it opens up the skin circulation while your core is still cold, and some people come out dizzier than they went in. Warm, not scalding. Dry clothes and a warm room beat the shower entirely.

Alcohol at the braai afterwards does the same thing — it feels warming and it is not. Leave it until you are properly warm again.

Shivering that does not settle after 30 to 45 minutes in dry clothes, confusion, slurred speech, clumsy hands, or someone who stops shivering but stays cold and drowsy — that is an emergency. Phone 112 or get to the nearest emergency unit. Do not put that person in a hot bath.

Repeated bad after-drop on short, ordinary sessions is worth a conversation too. It can be a kit problem, a fuelling problem, or a thyroid or medication question for your doctor.