RE: [Paddlewise] Wet exits and spray deck removal

"I bet that with any neoprene spray deck that you can get over your
> butt you can also get your arm down into to release it from the inside as
> Peter described in his tests.

I think this technique would work sitting at your desk wearing a sprayskirt
(as us whitewater loonies often do when there's no water in the rivers), but
there is no way that it would work in a "real" situation. A properly fitting
neoprene skirt is very snug, and then there is the matter of a PFD and
spraytop/drytop sitting over the skirt. It would not be easy to release the
zipper on the PFD and then reach through the layers of drytop and then
through the snug tunnel... especially not when upside down and gasping for
breath. For the record, it usually takes 3-4 "hops" to get my skirt up and
over my ample posterior -- I like it tight."

My practice was done wearing a polypro singlet, PFD and the spraydeck. It's
pretty warm here at present.
I did some further wet exits without the grab loop this morning wearing a
cag top, with a single layer neoprene waistband. It was still possible to
exit with both the exit-through-the-tube method, and the hand-down-the-tube
method. But if these could not be used, either because of a snug neoprene
tube, and/or layers of dry top and PFD, grabbing a fold of the deck at the
side of the deck and pulling out works fine.
I hope those who pour scorn on thinking this through are never in difficulty
as a result.

PT
37°42'S 145°08'E


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