<< After 4 short to medium guided day tours, I'm hooked, and am beginning to hack together a wish list of gear, so I can begin equipping myself gradually without breaking the bank... >> Stop now with there's still time! Seakayaking, for many of us, is a major money pit. Better to take up bridge or chess or even golf, anything but seakayaking. Don't believe me? OK, it was your bank account. Most people that have all neoprene skirts are happy with them. Especially in the cooler climes. Nylon can be tricky, some are great while others just don't seen to work very well. It's not so much the sheding of the water but rather the quality of the seal against the cockpit and the torso and the resistance to implosion. Neoprene is arguable the best in these areas but can feel warm at times since it will insulate the torso. I paddle north of Boston, Mass just north of the Gulf Stream. I'm not sure how much colder your waters are. The water temp today was 47 degrees in Maine. For paddle wear, I own most of what you mentioned. I just bought a drysuit for use when the water is cold. Sometimes you get warm but that will diminish as your stroke becomes more efficient. Also if you get too hot you can roll to cool off. No roll? Learn this as soon as you can. The two piece system (drytop and bibs) has it's fans, but most people, including me don't like them as much as a drysuit I use the drytop when the water gets warmer but there is still a cool wind blowing. it will really help keep heat loss to a minimum when it's warm but won't help when the water is cold. I went through this past winter with just the HydroSkins and a drytop. Technically a very stupid thing to do. It works well though if your roll is bombproof. Still, I backed off several trips due to the odd chance that I might take a swim. Summer sees the ever so fashionable NRS HydroSkins, a very thin neoprene with fleece liner, very comfortable. These can be used in conjunction with the drytop or drysuit for insulation as well. A paddling jacket is really only good as a backup in summer when the cold evening air starts to blow. It will cut the wind but will not keep you dry. Most people say that pogies are better than gloves, I move my hands around the paddle a lot, so I use gloves. I have the warmest ones that NRS makes and my hands still froze this past winter. Maybe it's time to try the posies. Good Luck, and happy hunting! Jed *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Sat May 27 2000 - 20:02:15 PDT
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