the problem
is that you are paddling in one environment,inside a kayak with torso in air. No matter how cold the air and water is you can be relatively warm and dry.
The water isn’t. So you really can’t aclimatize yourself well to the sudden transition from a paddling context to a totally immersed context. It’s different than walking into cold water. Once water gets down below 45 or so for me it’s more important to not have cold water contact the skin. This is different of course to whitewater where you’re wet all the time. For folks in your circumstances it’s the sharp transition as much as it is the actual water temp.
Speed @ which water robs warmth
I can’t say I’ve confirmed a number, but the overall relationship at which water robs moisture from the body compared to air is huge. Yesterday at lunch someone at the table mentioned it was 25 times faster. The person speaking is not a kayaker but a very good scientist, so it is possible this particular bit of trivia was on target.
In sum, acclimitizing to cold air may not help much with water.
Yes and that is still water only!
A Lake George New York cold water diving rescuer who has practiced his trade for over 40 years told me that 25 times is only for still water.
A startling fact he said is that water moving either by you swimming or by it moving like a 5 knot current removes heat by an increased factor of 10!
That means that moving water removes heat by 250 times as fast as air. Holy smokes. No wonder in my white water days when I went over and got caught in holes and had to be rescued I felt frozen inside a steamer suit even after a minute.
Makes Sense To Me
When I think about it. In still water (or air), the water that touches your skin gets warmed by your body and simultaneously cooled by the surrounding body of water. It probably takes some time for that water that your body is warming to get cooled by the surrounding water. It’s a losing battle for your body, but your body buys itself a little time.
In moving water, that warmed water is wisked away and there’s a whole new layer of cold water against your skin in a very short period of time. The faster the water moves, the more futile the attempt to warm the layer of water that touches your body.
Lou
I’m in PA too
I paddle 12 months of the year with the ice and snow. But I would never even go close to the water without a wetsuit, gloves and booties. With them I often sit in the freezing water and even swim around. It’s not warm by any means but I have a great deal of confidence that I am safe on the water and that makes my time a lot more enjoyable.