This is a response to Jack Martins post about the sea kayaking death on Lake Erie last December. Back in the early nineties I heard of a sea kayaker dying on Lake Michigan and he was found in the water with his drysuit unzipped. In that case the ambient air temperature was comfortable but the water temperature was cold enough to cause hypothermia. Back then we wondered if the paddler could have performed a self rescue with water in his suit. After reading Jacks original post about the Lake Erie death a few months ago I went to our clubs pool session and capsized with an unzipped drysuit. I performed the self rescue fine until I had to pull my feet and legs into the cockpit. I would later find out that I had three gallons of water in each leg. I performed the self rescue but I wondered how far I could paddle with all of that water in my suit. I looked at my PFD knife in a new way. I could have used it to cut my latex socks so the water could drain out. Sorry for the loss of a fellow sea kayaker and veteran, Don Dimond *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************
superiorvisions_at_att.net wrote: > > This is a response to Jack Martins post about the sea > kayaking death on Lake Erie last December. > Back in the early nineties I heard of a sea kayaker > dying on Lake Michigan and he was found in the water > with his drysuit unzipped. In that case the ambient air > temperature was comfortable but the water temperature > was cold enough to cause hypothermia. Back then we > wondered if the paddler could have performed a self > rescue with water in his suit. After reading Jacks > original post about the Lake Erie death a few months ago > I went to our clubs pool session and capsized with an > unzipped drysuit. I performed the self rescue fine until > I had to pull my feet and legs into the cockpit. I would > later find out that I had three gallons of water in each > leg. I performed the self rescue but I wondered how far > I could paddle with all of that water in my suit. I > looked at my PFD knife in a new way. I could have used > it to cut my latex socks so the water could drain out. That is exactly my point...the fact that waterproof clothing, be it a dry suit or paddling jacket and paddling pants, do fill with water and hinder re-entry if you are out of your boat. And if you do get back in your boat, you will get immensely chilled and possibly hypothermic because of those gallons of water that are robbing your shakened body of heat. With a dry suit, yes, the choice is to use a knife even if it ruins the suit. With neoprene gaskets on paddling clothing, you can open up the neoprene if it has velcro adjustable tabs (some earlier and less expensive jackets had unadjustable neoprene wrists). Back earlier, Stohlquist offered what they called a semi-dry suit. It had neoprene at neck, wrists and ankles but not a waterproof zipper (just a bit of velcro over it a la any good hiking jacket.) It just would not work as any capsize would get tons of water inside. Stohlquist still offers an economical dry suit that has latex gaskets at neck, wrists and ankles but which employs a non-waterproof zipper that has an outer device of velcro and material that rolls up similar to what one does with a dry bag (connect the velcro and roll over material two or three times to form a seal). This will keep water out but not in hydraulics such as surf. I had a friend who had the drybag-type closure on his Stohlquist suit pop while winter surfing in Rhode Island. His suit filled with water. I am not certain how he survived...lots of other people around, not far from shore, etc I guess. Suffice it to say, he got rid of that suit in a hurry and bought a drysuit with waterproof zipper. ralph diaz -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Ralph Diaz . . . Folding Kayaker newsletter PO Box 0754, New York, NY 10024 Tel: 212-724-5069; E-mail: rdiaz_at_ix.netcom.com "Where's your sea kayak?"----"It's in the bag." ----------------------------------------------------------------------- *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************
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