Just pour water over you, or soak your
hat in the water, take a rag, wet it and put it on your head, evaporative cooling doesn’t require rolling, a technique not always best if you ar in a canoe, sit on top, or rec craft.
How bad is the water?
Heat is a special problem when the water quality is poor. One thing to consider is an inflatable PFD. Also if you pass through an area of good water you can add a few inches of water to the cockpit.
Go soak your head!
And I mean that in the nicest way.
A hat that shades all around (I have a Tilley, but a boonoe or any other type that absorbs some water will work) can be soaked in water and allowed to provide evaporative cooling.
I am not sure if this will work well in salt water, as teh residue might be uncomfortable. I have not tried it there.
Jim
Put a bandanna
around your neck too and then when you get hot dip your hat and let the water run down your face into the bandanna. The arteries to your brain are just below the surface here and the wet bandanna helps cool the bloodflow to it and stave off heatstroke
I agree completely
my wife and I paddled a hard twenty miles today, (almost a 5 MPH pace)in our C-2.
The air temperature was hovering around a hundred and the humidity was very high.
I am lucky and can stand a lot of heat, (it probably has something to do with a resting heart rate in the low to mid forties), but she has a very hard time with the heat and is just the opposite.
She has found over the years that paddling is the ideal hot weather sport for her and that is exactly how she manages it.
As we paddled she would occasionally dip her hat (ball cap type) and dump it over her head. At each mile we would let up just for a drink, but she would also take the time to dump several sponge fulls over her neck, back and thighs.
I even felt the heat coming on at the seventeen mile mark and did the same thing and after the paddle we were both in great shape.
Cheers,
JackL
Hot air, warm water
I agree with gstamer’s post that a long-sleeve lightweight synthetic shirt is the way to go for very hot air and warm water. You don’t get sunburned, the bugs can’t bite through the baggy shirt, and you get cooled off by dowsing with water when you need to. You can experiment with rolling up the sleeves, too.
Body temp is 98.6 degrees, so even 80-degree water will feel relatively cool.
As others have suggested, if you can roll, that helps a lot. I also found that doing a static brace is almost as cooling as rolling, and there’s no need to remove sunglasses/visor when doing that.
If you have room to bring an insulated lunch box, you could keep a previously-frozen drink in that. I bring an insulated bike bottle (made by Polar) filled with frozen electrolyte drink. The cold drink really helps.
Have you paddled
on the river where deliverance was filmed??
Ps- have you ever paddled a pamlico 140??
Paddling in the heat
I paddle in Tx all the time on lazy rivers “the Brazos usually”. And yes dropping in the water for a few seconds helps a great deal to lower your body temp… I paddle a Loon 120 and Acadia kayaks and can very comfortably hop out and get back into each one in deep water (crossing large hot Texas lakes). As mentioned before, large brimmed hat and dip it in the water frequently to keep a cool head.
Straw hats actually are better in
hot conditions if you dip the hat in water, wetting it thoroughly. They provide better ventilation, assuming the weave isn’t too tight and soak up about as much, if not more water than cloth hat. Think of it as a swamp cooler (those big square evaportive coolers you see on buildings in dry climates). The medium they often use for the water to soak up in is a straw like material. Also get the widest brim you can that will hold some sort of shape when wet. Not to good for staying on the head when rolling though.
Have I paddled :
on the Chatooga…No Strike 1
a Pamlico 140…No Strike 2
Good thing you didn’t ask me 3 questions.
Loved your reply.
I loved your reply.
Perhaps next time you could ask, “Boat? What boat? We need a boat? So that’s whats missing?”
You’re the kind of person our ladies only kayak group, here in Michigan, would enjoy.
Have fun on the water.
Shirley
GR, MI
I paddle and fish all the time in
heat with an index as high or higher than the one you state. Yes, its hot and I can notice the effect of the heat, but it does help to follow the suggestions you’ve gotten. But, the best suggestion is to paddle early in the day, get off the water during mid-day, and paddle again in the late afternoon/evening. An alternative is to paddle at night assuming you are secure and experienced enough to do so.
I think they do that on the Rifle River
I too enjoyed that response.
The Rifle River is in East Michigan near Omer/Standish.
The water around Columbus Ohio is too polluted, its bad enough to get ankles and hands in that brown stuff.
It has been too hot for this asthmatic in terms of loading and unloading. So I have spent a lot of time swimming and doing water aerobics in the pool where I live.
time of day
is important to keep in mind when paddling in hotter months July - Sept here in south florida. I launch at day break and return to launch around 10 or so. Get a nice 4 hour paddle and can be home in a/c comfort by noon to take a refreshing nap 
after my shower of course!
PFD in heat
This thread reminds me of a debate that arose a few years back about heat and PFD’s.
The topic arose on an annual Labor Day float trip in the deep south. On this particular year the temp each day hovered around 103 degrees with no shade. There were probably well over a hundred paddlers and being experienced Southerners showed many creative ways to beat the heat. A very experienced and able instructor and I noticed that not one person was wearing a PFD and it was more than perfectly logical. Not wearing a PFD in that situation was risky, but wearing one would could have been fatal. It was a no brainer. Only mad dogs or Englishmen would do so under those conditions.
My idea in these situations is to clip a lanyard to your PFD with say 8 or 10 feet of parachute cord. If you filp then just cling to the overturned hull until the lifevest can be located and then put it on in the water. I and many instructors I know teach this skill in safety classes.
I won’t argue this one
cause I almost never wear a PFD. I usually don’t even take one with me.
…but I’m an above average swimmer. A paddler who can swim well doesn’t need a rope tied to his PFD. I recommend to those who choose not to wear it place it under the deck bungees.
On the other hand a person, who is a non-swimmer or not-a-good swimmer, who flips will have major problems putting the PFD on regardless.
I have spent the past 5 days paddling
in temps near 100F with heat index above 110F.
I wear a PFD and a neoprene skirt/deck all the time. The deck is more to keep the sun off of my legs - I don’t like using sunscreen. The PFD debate we won’t start up again.
What is the trick? Drink a lot of water and just deal with it. For the record I don’t think wearing a PFD would be more or less fatal in heat than not wearing a PFD all the time. You could die from heat, you could die from drowning. It is a fickle world we kayak where not enough water can kill and too much water can kill.
LOL
– Last Updated: Aug-09-07 10:41 PM EST –
the low tonight is predicted somewhere in the mid 40's...
yah we have had some steamy stuff but the Atlantic is still about 55-60.
You guys gotta move north for all year paddling..summer is no excuse. Can always find a way to get into salt water in the winter...
Of course you look and feel like the Michelin Man with all that drysuit and fleece.
Heat and humidity in FL
I have several suggestions:
- Wear a full-brim hat with mesh on the sides for ventilation. The three tiny holes found on most boonies are totally useless.
- Wear a long sleeved shirt made out of a wicking material. Something designed to pull moisture away from your skin and let it evaporate quickly. I use shirts that fit snugly, similar to Under Armour, but not as expensive. Coolmax might work if you can find it in a long sleeved shirt. Also, you might want to wear these shirts inside-out to avoid chafing from the seams.
- Stay wet. Learning how to roll (if you don’t already know how) is a great and fun way to get wet. If you don’t roll, splash water all over yourself to help cool off. A sponge works well, too.
- Don’t wrap a wet cloth or towel around your head and neck. This works well in some places with low humidity, but here in FL with our high humidity, the water doesn’t evaporate from the cloth quickly enough to cool you. For any cooling effect, you’d have to re-wet it in cool water every couple of minutes.
- Try using an inflatable PFD. Wrapping foam around your core is not a good way to stay cool. Plus…they are much more comfortable and less restrictive.
- The most important advice anyone can give you…drink lots of water! I wear a hydration pack so I can have the water available constantly. Gatorade is good too. Alcohol and caffeine will dehydrate you.
Pedro Almeida, Miami
Totally confused
I don’t understand this heat and fluids senario with many of the paddlers.
Many comments have been made but no one has told about their day on the water.
I’m 59 and could loose a few pounds and I paddle 5 -7 days a week. Before I go to the river I drink 1 cup of coffee and eat a banana and maybe some Twinkies or 4oz of Hershey’s chocolate… The heat index here in Atlanta is 100+.
When I paddle a 7-8 hour day I take 16oz of Gatorade, 16oz of water, 8.25 of sliced peaches, a small can of Beanee Weenees and a small bag of gold fish. Normally I will only drink a total of 16oz of the fluids and eat 1 of the cans of food.
I wear a bathing suit, maybe (seldom) a cotton T-shirt and a baseball cap. Ocassionally I will dunk the cap but otherwise I just paddle. I might take a quick 15 min swim sometime during the trip depending on what section of the river I paddle.
Lunch stop is normally 15 - 30 min.
Seldom make a pit stop during the paddle but make a forced one before starting and usually shortly after I fininsh paddling.
When paddling with a group I will usually drink both 16oz bottles but feel that it may be because of talking.
I don’t have a problem with heat on a day paddle and only on my first long distance trip was it a problem that was solved.