Re: [Paddlewise] Wet suits/dry suits

David Martin --- probably some distant relation --- makes an important point that "... dry suits are subject to total failure from even a small puncture or tear. If they leak at all, they will provide very little protection from cold water immersion."  And, in fact, a compromised drysuit was shown in a Coast Guard and Navy test to provide essentially no thermal protection to its user.  At that point, it's about as good as a "huddle" technique in open water survival.

My personal response to this unlikely but definitely potential "worst case" scenario --- and you have to think of what could happen to separate you from your kayak for an extended time --- is to wear a full Thermal Stretch material jumpsuit as part or all of my insulation layer.  When dry, it's warm fleece lining provides most of my needed insulation, assuming the drysuit (a GoreTex suit by Kokatat) remains intact, but, should the suit be compromised, it gives me the survivability of the equivalent of a two mil neoprene suit.  Not a lot, but a survivable situation.  (The newer Rubberized Thermal Stretch, sometimes called "fuzzy rubber", does not breathe as well as the older Thermal Stretch, and may not work as well in the dry mode; both materials are made by Malden Mills, and are the composite fabrics of choice for most non-neoprene "wet" gear these days.

As to countering the risks of drysuit-induced hyperthermia --- not sure I totally agree with Cousin Dave: there are safe ways of venting excessive heat while wearing a drysuit.  We frequently take off our gloves for short periods of time and dip our hands (briefly!) in cold water; there's a lot of blood circulating there, and hands can act as a radiator to bleed off the body's excess heat.  A more dramatic and effective way to vent off a good deal of heat is to roll or practice self rescues; hey, you're on the water and you'd better be ready to be in the water!  That's something that many of my paddling colleagues espouse and drill --- worst case scenarios.  A good way into that is to start now, while the water temperature is declining slowly, swim the gear you decide to use regularly, and get used to it as the air and water temperatures begin to get serious.

Jack Martin
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