Re: [Paddlewise] See, and I've been thinking paddling in the winter was impossible.

At 09:41 AM 3/14/03 -0500, Lisa Williams wrote:
>Paddlewisers,
>
>The recent thread on needing encouragement to go on a rescue-practice
>session in bad weather has been a real eye-opener for me.
>
>I have been waiting for spring to come with gritted teeth.  It's been a
>horrible winter here in New England, and I can't wait to get outside.
>
>It seems to me that many of you just don't wait for spring -- as long as
>the water's liquid and not solid, you go out.
>
>I'll have to think about that.  I'm a novice paddler and certainly don't
>want to get into a dangerous situation, though.

I'm also in the great frozen northeast and have suffered the same long, 
cold winter, but hope to do more early season paddling this year.

One of the things I've done the past few winters is take a short vacation 
in January or February to Florida to do some warmer water paddling when 
everything is frozen here.  This year I attended the Sweetwater gulf coast 
symposium and hopefully will do it again next year.  Such a trip helps 
break up the long winter.

The other thing I do over the winter is try to attend as many pool sessions 
as I can.  You might have to check around but winter pool sessions are a 
great way to get in some warm, clear water and learn how or practice 
rolling.  A couple of the winters over the last four years I spent the time 
building a couple of sea kayaks.

Even though the water is still very cold in the Spring here I'm hoping to 
extend the season a bit this year because I just bought a dry suit.  Even 
with the dry suit, I don't plan on going out unless I'm going with someone 
that I trust to perform an assisted rescue if I did capsize and come out of 
my boat.

Try to find a group of local paddlers that you can trust to paddle with in 
these risky conditions, dress accordingly, and you should be able to 
shorten your winter somewhat. 
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