Dang thing
pulled his hairs out
cold
– Last Updated: Nov-24-09 6:19 AM EST –
There is some good info here and some really bad info here as well. You're on the web, do a web search for hypothermia, geez.
What's your life worth to you?
Bill H.
Yeah, right…
Your life will be in grave risk if you paddle in southern Florida without a dry suit!
einstein or darwin? (nt)
.
Discovered another good thing…
…about dry suits yesterday. The water was cold enough to bring pain to my bare hand when I tested it. After I unloaded all my gear at the and on my trip, I waded out to about belly deep (wasn’t far) with my canoe, reached under the hull and lifted it a short distance over my head and then walked out. Easiest boat-lift I’ve done, and I stayed warm and (mostly) dry.
Recently got an ACA newsletter
I don’t belong to the ACA, never have, so this surprised me.
Anyway, it listed 10 water accidents for the previous year involving paddlecraft (that were reported; some fatal). Out of those 10, 9 were canoeists.
Around here, many people look upon both canoeing and kayaking very casually–little or no training required, just wear jeans and t-shirts, stick the dog, the kids, and the nonpaddling spouse in a boat if they’ll fit (often with bow sticking sky-high), etc etc.
The big difference is that because kayaks are considered “tippy” and “you might get stuck inside them”, there is a tiny bit higher likelihood that the paddler might consider the safety aspects.
Justification is relative
Like the OP, I have been paddling for 50+ years. In the winter, I usually paddle like him: close to shore and in relatively shallow water. By this description I also include rivers.
I was an early adopter of drysuits in the early 80’s because I could afford them then. But that also means I had paddled for more than 25 years without a drysuit.
The justification is an added increment of safety at a cost. Increment over what? Well, over the previous immersion technology: the wetsuit.
As far as I can recall, people paddled all the same kinds of waters prior to the 80’s as they do today, and did just fine with wetsuits. Even 10 years ago, when I dropped out of serious WW, many of my canoeing companions still used wetsuits in NE WW.
I think incremental safety can be taken to alarmist levels, unnecessarily.
If you have the money, why not get a drysuit? Worst thing, it just becomes another toy you toss in the closet.
However, with the price of these things now at the absurd level of $1000+, I doubt that I would invest in one again in my present economic circumstance just to do cold weather flatwater paddling of the cautious type stated in the OP. I would use my wetsuit with poly or wool, just as we all did prior to drysuits.
And, yes, for a day trip near home and roads,I might even go without a wetsuit and just take a towel and change of clothes, as I and millions of others did before we even had wetsuits.
The most dangerous thing about paddling in any season is the drive to and from the water.
what’s the point of this post?
There was some reason to post this?
If you live where there is year round very warm weather then you’re probably not in the market for a drysuit.
Bill H.
Thank you Glen
it is refreashing to see a post were someone puts everything and their answer in perspective based on the original question, and the conditions that the OP had given.
Cheers,
jackL
insulation
Just remember that a drysuit alone provides absolutely no insulation, you can very easily freeze to death wearing one with no layers under it. It keeps the water off, that’s it.
Bill H.
I think most people understand that
– Last Updated: Nov-26-09 11:18 AM EST –
One of the beauties of a dry suit is that by varying the insulation, it can be comfortable in temps from below freezing to ~70F (when paddling colder water).
$1000 plus??
yeah, some are, and someone posted a deal they found where Stohlquists were I believe around $460. My regular ww partner got a new NRS Extreme for $325, and I bought 2 for well under $1000. Aaron and I have had ours 4 complete seasons now, and that’s helped us enjoy over 200 WW or big river sessions we wouldn’t have enjoyed w/o them.Figures Jack would thank you for agreeing with him, as both of you ignore the whole picture.
Comfort more so than safety
– Last Updated: Nov-26-09 11:44 AM EST –
In my earlier post, I said drysuits provide an increment of safety over wetsuits. While that's true, I have never thought of drysuits in terms of a life or death issue, but rather as a comfort issue.
Drysuits are more comfortable while you are swimming in cold water. Also after you exit the water, since there is nothing that gets soaked or that has to dry off.
However, drysuits are not comfortable to me in warm temperatures. This is an issue when you are paddling in cold water in warm temperatures, such as in coastal Maine or Canada in the summer. In that situation, I have always preferred the wetsuit.
Only in summer…
The dry suit thing is as much or more about extending the paddling season as anything else, and winter is chilly in Maine. And we paddle in the summer in Maine as well as a visit again in early fall. There are foggy, all day wet days where a dry suit is the only way I can be comfortable even in June or July. Getting chilled doesn’t require brutal cold air temps for me.
summer is chilly too
It can be 80 degrees onshore and thirty five degrees colder than that off shore in Maine in the middle of summer.
The drysuit in winter is more of a safety thing. Comfort ceases to be a paramount reason.
Drysuits are required on some AMC tripe in Maine.
Like the boat you wear, the gear you wear is dictated by your environment. One size does not fit all.
The point
"If you live where there is year round very warm weather then you’re probably not in the market for a drysuit."
But there’re plenty of people who live in part of country when there’s only chilly but not cold winter. Or, only cold for short duration of the year.
The point being, everyone ASSUMES dry suit is neccessary in winter without regard to WHERE the original poster lives!
Well, if it’s chilly then it’s not warm
But that does raise a good issue. Dress for the temperature range you are likely to encounter during the entire trip, whether it’s a week, a day or even just a few hours.
Temps can drop significantly in a matter of hours in some places and at certain seasons.
Again, the question of drysuit justification (like any protective gear justification) must be measured in the context of the specific factual scenario at issue: where you are paddling, in what climate, with what skills, with what alternative thermal protection, and with what risk tolerance.
Personally, in the winter in a northern climate, I wouldn’t paddle a whitewater river or 100 feet off shore in the open ocean without a drysuit.
On the other hand, if I didn’t have a drysuit, I wouldn’t hesitate to paddle 20 feet off shore in the shallow waters of my local lake, where I haven’t dumped in 50 years, which was the OP’s stated factual scenario. However, even in that scenario, if I already had a drysuit or if money was no object to buying one, I might very well choose to wear one.
And OP Has Yet To Share With Us
– Last Updated: Nov-26-09 6:14 PM EST –
where she/he lives.
As Celia has so eloquently posted: "Location. location, location".
Caveat: Your Florida experience may/will likely vary.
And if you were to paddle with me tomorrow morning on larger water here in the North Country of NY, with a water temperature of less than 50 degrees Fahrenheit, and at a distance of way more than 20 ft off the the shore, you may/may not want to be wearing a drysuit.
Comfort
Comfort is relative and drysuits are a different kind of comfort. Compared to shorts and t shirt or casual street clothes they suck but it’s really nice to be able to paddle ,play ,roll and skull and still be warm and dry. That’s a different kind of comfort and I come back to the car and I pull off the drysuit and my comfortable street clothes are already on . Easy!!!
However if I was paddling a canoe in flat water two feet deep near shore I probably wouldn’t bother with a drysuit either.
Water vs. Air Temperature
– Last Updated: Nov-27-09 7:31 AM EST –
When I paddle in the Candaian Thousands Islands in May, which is neither on small water, nor is it paddling 20 ft from the shore, the water temperatures, are likely to be less than 50 degrees Fahrenheit.
http://www.paddling.net/places/showReport.html?2087
However, air temperatures may well be in the 70 degree plus Fahrenheit range.
Comes down to the paddler deciding to dress for the water temperatures (e.g wearing a drysuit)/or not.
It's always difficult to extrapolate to others' experiences/locations. And in my location and in early spring, late fall and winter, my vote is for wearing a drysuit, or for wearing a dry top and dry pants - ditto for Cranberry Lake, NY:
http://www.paddling.net/places/showReport.html?1981