In a message dated 12/10/2002 3:35:03 AM Eastern Standard Time, dougl_at_islandnet.com writes: > ... Here on the west coast, we don't get real cold conditions, except maybe > during arctic outbreaks which usually are associated with wind -- rendering > wind chill factors to near dangerous. I admire you east coasters that > manage year-round paddling (when "soft" water can be found at least). > > BTW, I always carry a pouch on my PFD with accessible neo gloves and neo > skull cap in it, both in winter and summer. And I never did manage to find > rubber/latex type gloves suitable, though I do notice some of the drysuit > manufactures sell a similar glove with a "reverse" latex gasket which > prevents water from running back down into the glove. ... Doug, due to salinity and the greater normal movement of the water the coastal waters tend not to get too hard too often ere either, it's just that the rivers get clogged at times. :-) I, too, carry a neoprene hood, even in relatively benign conditions -- it's just part of the "kit in the bag" along with gloves etc. Gloves are a serious challenge for me and always have been: For one I have skinny hands with somewhat less than full blooded circulation, i.e., they chill easily, and for another I perspire at the slightest provocation (and often without), causing significant chilling through evaporation (hey, it works :-). I've given up trying to keep my fingers dry, but I do try to enclose them to stop any (wind-) chilling due to condensation. My local hardware store carries green latex gloves advertised for use when handling chemicals. Instead of being smooth they have a fuzzy surface texture akin to what you get when putting your hand flat in thick fresh paint and then pulling away at right angles to the surface. This provides excellent grip on wet paddle shafts; in fact, while the finish on my Greenland style paddle is almost a little too smooth to slide when I handle it without gloves, those green "chemical" gloves almost impair sliding too much. Loss of heat from the hands through radiation seems to be a much lesser factor in my personal experience, so I tend to worry less about the insulating property of gloves (other than when scuba diving in cold conditions!). Having said that, these green gloves are dimensioned in such a way that when I buy them long enough for my fingers, they leave plenty of air around the fingers even when once in a while I do wear liners. Now, I do hope that this did not get too technical ... ;-) Best regards, Ralph Ralph C. Hoehn Ralph_at_Atlatl-Kayaks.com / Ralph_at_PouchBoats.com www.Atlatl-Kayaks.com / www.PouchBoats.com phone: +1-203-324-0901 *************************************************************************** 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 Tue Dec 10 2002 - 08:42:24 PST
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Thu Aug 21 2025 - 16:31:01 PDT