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

> 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.

I don't own a dry suit, and I'm further South (southeastern Virginia).
One thing I do in the winter is to use that time to explore a lot of the
"rabbit trail" type of creeks that run through the salt marshes around
here.  By doing that, I spend the vast majority of the paddle in water
that is generally less than waist deep, and typically narrow (to the
point where it can get hard to impossible to turn the boat around).

Capsizing would still be unpleasant, though... not so much for the water
temperature, but for the face plant into stinky marsh mud.

When the water warms, that's when I do longer, open water paddles. Not
open as in miles off shore, but a helluva lot further than I can swim,
nonetheless.

Just $.02

Rick
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