You open up a very interesting can of worms there, tocayo Ralph. "The Other Ralph" here. A heated discussion thread on the online forum at www.faltboot.de touched upon the subject briefly as the debate raged over whether PFDs might actually reduce your chance of survival when worn while kayaking ... let's not reawaken that topic here, but one important point made by the German speaking kayakers was this: The greatest threat to survival after exiting a kayak is hypothermia with drowning a somewhat distant second. They distinguished the effects of hypothermia in two categories: 1 - The onset of hypothermia (or even the pre-hypothermic stage) reduces your ability to perform self- or group-rescue techniques and thus causes you to be exposed to the very conditions that encourage hypothermia for a longer period, a viscious feedback cycle. 2 - Hypothermia eventually kills you unless, having failed to rescue yourself, outside help comes along in time. Clearly then the goal is to reduce the rapidity with which a paddler cools when immersed to the point where s/he has sufficient time to effect a re-entry / self-rescue or benefit from outside assitance before the effects of hypothermia prohibit this. The time frame we need to bridge depends on many parameters: The effective potential cooling rate (depending on water temperature, wind chill etc.), the physical condition of the paddler (fitness, body fat content etc.), ..., the paddler's clothing. Therefore the choice of clothing, as the only variable over which the paddler has control, actually depends on the other conditions. Those expedition kayakers back in 1935 had developed methods for dealing with individual and group emergencies. Compared to today's bewildering array of equipment, their choices with regard to clothing were limited. Their access to outside help was non-existent. And frankly, from talking to old timers in similar situations, I get the impressions that they expected to die if things went ultimately went wrong -- and they accepted that fact and went out anyway, even when professional expedition goals were not the driving factor! The www.faltboot.de thread contained strong arguments for not leaving the kayak in the first place (made possible, as we learned recently, even for non-rollers through the use of tuiliqs for example or generously cut sprayskirts and the "Petrussen Maneuver"). Failing that (they said), at the very least, we have to reduce the amount of time the paddler spends outside of the kayak to the absolute minimum (a question of practicing, practicing and practicing some more realistic self- and group-rescue techniques). One higly experienced sea kayaker wrote that wearing PFDs reduces your ability to re-enter the boat rapidly and that therefore he shuns their use under most circumstances. Again, let's leave the PFD debate behind, but take the point that clothing (and perhaps we should consider PFDs to be part of this) must not only protect against the cold, but must also not hinder re-entry procedures! Drysuits: Whenever I wear my two piece set-up I get wet ... from the inside. Due to the type of liner I wear, this does not compromise the insulating effect of the suit. If my gaskets leaked slightly, I would probably not feel much of a difference, i.e., I will certainly consider a neck ring in future. Mukluks, laced to prevent them slipping if I do need to make an attempt at swimming, are another addition I will consider. I NEVER go out in conditions that warrant a dry suit without a tight fitting long necked neoprene hood! Tuiliq: I reserve judgement until I have tried one (Christmas present, honey?). This is a piece of equipment clearly not designed for use while swimming. That's surely part of the equation. The point of all this? Choosing the most appropriate clothing for every outing is the result in effect of solving a pretty complicated equation, or at least taking an epxerienced and / or educated guess at the solution. Perhaps we should devote some time towards identifying and defining the elements of that equation further. The other Ralph Ralph_at_PouchBoats.com www.PouchBoats.com *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Thu Nov 30 2000 - 11:52:31 PST
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