Brian Heath wrote: > > > sorry to be a broken record, but you <<must>> dress for the water temperature > > even if it is warm and sunny. IMHO this means drysuits if water temp below 50 F. > > That's helpful. Could I have some suggestions on other dress? What > water temp do ya'll put on (or take off) a farmer john wet suit? > Thanks. Brian, I'm not a dry suit owner. For cold water (less than 55 F) I use a farmer john under a Kokatat Goretex paddle jacket (has good latex seals at the wrists, but a neoprene/velcro closure at the neck). Depending on the conditions, I might have one or two layers of fleece under the drytop, and in really cold weather/water, I'd wear a neoprene beanie or hood. That's my cold-water paddling rig, and is designed to give me survival time in the water, and get-back-in-the-yak time. I'm figuring I will have *at least* half an hour of time when all my extremities will be fully functional, when the water is below 55 degrees F. That seems to be borne out by my experience in small surf (2-3 ft waves), when I spend lots of time immersed in the water, and do not even notice the water temp after 2 - 3 hours of mild activity (water temp maybe 50 - 55). The neoprene/velcro neck closure allows a little leakage, but is really pretty water tight. Between 55 - 60, I waffle. Sometimes I wear the full rig. Rarely, I wear just the john, but at least a fleece layer on top. At 60 - 65 degrees, I often dispense with the drytop and use the john with nothing significant on my upper body -- maybe a T-shirt (unless it is raining seriously). Above 65 degrees, I might do without the farmer john, and certainly would not wear it above 70 F. That's swimming temp! I'd caution you that these temps seem to work for me, and that you might want to go a little more conservative than I do. I'm a chunky guy with a fair amount of natural insulation, and do not get cold hands easily. Slim folks who readily get cold hands would not be comfortable with my benchmarks. The best test is to swim around in the water near shore and see how it works for you. -- Dave Kruger Astoria, OR *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************Received on Fri May 15 1998 - 21:47:49 PDT
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