How cold do you consider cold water?

[Rick Murchison]

After about three or four hours, 85° F water (without any thermal protection) is cold.
80° gets cold after only an hour or so.
73° feels cold right away and will have most folks shivering in less than an hour.
At 68° I'm shivering in only 15 to 20 minutes.
Below 68° is ridiculous without any thermal protection.
On the other hand, with proper underwear, a drysuit, dry gloves and dry hood with a full face mask, water gets too solid to swim in before it gets too cold.
Rick

 

[Land Locked]

30 to 60 dry suit. Greater than 60 degrees, various wet suits layering with a shorty 2 or 3 mil as a core warmer under a 3 mil full with either a 3 mil cap or a 6 mil hood. I also have 3, 5 and 7mil gloves. For me diving wet in cold water; it is important to keep my head and hands warm for comfort. If the SI temps are going to be windy/chilly, not caring about the water temp - I will elect to dive dry since I get colder during the SI than the dive itself.

 

[RV]

anything below 85 is cold

 

[Sas]

10C. When it reached that temperature I went out and bought a drysuit. However, 10C doing a half an hour dive I don't get cold, it is when I do 2 long dives that it becomes an issue.

 

[scubadobadoo]

I own a dry suit and a 3 mil full. Anything below 75f and I put the dry suit on.

 

[Belce]

Where I dive in BC it is considered temperate.

 

[Bottomfeeder Brodie]

Here in SoFL, anything below 75 is farmer john time