From:  Warlord #1 @0 VirtualNET
Title: Hiding in Water
Date:  Wed May 29, 1996 18:06:54

DO NOT attempt to hide in Water.  Every War movie from Rambo on back, puts the
hero into the drink.  He breathes through a reed while they pass, and then
comes out behind them.  That's show biz; Here's real life:

You go into the water.  If they have dogs, the doggie will turn and say,
"this is where he went into the drink because I can't smell him anymore."
(Even if you have bathed 100%, you develop Maggot breath in the woods, and no
dog could miss it.)

Then the Handler will fan left or right and find a place for the dog to pick
up your trail on one side of the bank or the other.  If they find no trail,
they know you continued to bathe.  They will find you.  "But," you say,
"you're hidden under a bunch of sacred lilies, Which they don't dare to
disturb, so they can't see you."  (yeah, right.)

So--they will just wait you out.  Water takes away your body heat at a
phenomenal rate, about 7 times faster than air.  Your natural body
temperature is about 98.6 degrees.  Even if the water is a comfy 74, in time
you will suffer from hypothermia. They will wait, and you will freeze.

Even if they didn't have time to wait (but they certainly will...you are
their priority), detection is a big problem.  You have to get deep enough so
they can't see you through the water.  You also have to breathe.  Now, we
already know that you wouldn't be in the water if you didn't believe in
fiction, so you just happen to have with you a special camouflaged hose six
feet long.

At first you breath fine.  But then it becomes labored.  Why?  You exhale
carbon dioxide, which does not clear the hose, so you breathe back in your
own carbon dioxide, and re-use the unexpended oxygen... you run out of air. 
You end up cold and sucking gas as you bubble to the top.  Yes, water
hideouts are great, but only in the movies...

Finally, there's the one about running in the creek.  Then a scent dog can't
track you and you get away. No,no.

First, you run a tremendous risk of injury travelling in creeks because all
the rocks on the bottom are slippery.  You'll think somebody designed them
just for breaking ankles.  Second, you move more slowly in water than you do
on land.  Anybody can walk faster on the bank than you can run in the
water... And you will make God's own noise while running. Hypothermia is,
again, a problem, and at very least you lose calories, and therefore stamina.
The creek getaway is an armchair dream; it won't work either.