[Paddlewise] ... Winter and cold and hands

I guess there is no real solution to keeping hands warm in winter
paddling, is there?

Couple of days ago went paddling, the weather was fine, light breeze 7
meters per second, air temperature  -8 degrees (Celsius) below zero, water
was about at freezing point. Paddling was ok, and my glove systems seem to
work ok. The main problem was, that water that near freezing point froze
on to the paddle. The weight of the paddle doubled during the trip...

I have neoprene gloves with ready-bent fingers and quite a good
grip surface on the palm. On top of them I wear normal pogies. A twelwe
kilometer trips succeded well with those, and I also used the same stuff
three week earliers when we did 112 km two nights trip. The neoprene
gloves need to have pogies on, because otherwise neoprene sucks in water
and gets cold. The bad thing about neoprene is, that my hand sweats and
gets a bit moist, so when I remove the gloves hands get cold soon.

I would prefer getting the same type of neoprene gloves but as MITTS or
mittens with good gripping material on the palms. My fingers stay warmer
together. For real winter paddling I wouldn't use open palm mitts,
because the water cools fingers fast.

Well, funny thing is, that a couple of years earlier I paddles with only
thin nylon pogies, and was ok with them. This is really new that my hands
are getting cold.

I wonder what the greenlanders had on? Some type of waterproof leather
longish mitten would be perfect, at least for me, if they exist. Does
anyone know?

alli
Anna Leena Lind
alli_at_iki.fi





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