[Paddlewise] Open Drysuit

This is a response to the self rescue done with in a 
pool with an open drysuit.
Hello Paddle Wisers, A few months ago when I heard about 
the Lake Erie death there was some talk in our sea 
kayaking club, Twin Cities Sea Kayaking Association 
<http://www.virtualmn.com/tcska/>, about how easy it 
would be to perform a self rescue with an open drysuit 
that had water in it. I went to one of our pool sessions 
and committed the cardinal sin of leaving my drysuit 
open and then capsized myself. I floated next to my 
kayak as water flowed into my suit. I did not wear a 
sprayskirt or a PFD so that I would let the maximum 
amount of water in. I put the paddlefloat on my paddle 
and inflated it then positioned it at a ninety degree 
angle to my kayak by placing one paddle blade under the 
shock cord of my stern deck. I was able to get on top of 
my kayaks stern deck and noted that I had very little 
water in the arms of the suit because it drained out. 
The challenge occured when I lifted my legs out of the 
water. The water could not drain out of the legs of the 
drysuit so I brought three gallons into the boat with 
each leg that dropped in. Someone posted a good question 
about how easy it would be to perform in the conditions 
that the Lake Erie sea kayaker faced. The answer is 
based on how many times he had practiced a self rescue.
I do not think I would have a problem doing a self 
rescue with water in my suit in two foot waves because I 
have practice self rescues a lot during the year.

I agree with other posts that a drysuit is not a good 
option for every sea kayaker out there because of the 
ambient air temperatures but for the paddling that I do 
on Lake Superior it is my best option when I go paddling.

I also agree with some posts about the insulation one 
can wear between you and the drysuit. I have been known 
to wear a shorty wetsuit under my drysuit when paddling 
on cold days.

If I ever saw anyone paddling on the water with an open 
drysuit I immediately let them know how dangerous it is.

Good Paddling,
Don Dimond
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