Hi <snip> I've paddled ice water without a dry suit but I am pretty sure I'd never do it again without one. Or are you talking about racing? </snip> Those circumstances where I do winter paddling without dry-suit has been for the workout, tough not in an actual race. Under such conditions I do not paddle far from shore - something like 100 feet from the shore line. And there are no tidal actions to worry about either. But there are stray waves from commercial traffic to handle. But so far, organized kayaking (clubs under Danish canoe union) have had next to no lethal accidents in the last 100 year, which I contribute to the fact that only experienced paddlers do winter paddling. Some (very very few) sea paddlers do long distance winter paddling, mostly as a training for Greenland expeditions (which are very popular as Greenland is officially part of Denmark). Here the problem is not just hyperthermia in case of capsize, but also to stay warm all day. You have to use a dry suit - and not paddle too fast :-). Best Kasper On 11/09/07 18.54, "Craig Jungers" <crjungers_at_gmail.com> wrote: > On 9/11/07, Kasper Osterbye <kasper_at_itu.dk> wrote: >> <snip>... I have even >> capsized in racing kayaks in ice water, as has many here, and that is >> without dry or wetsuit, as one would overheat in such clothing. > > Hi Kasper, > > I'm curious about your statement about overheating in a drysuit. Everyone I > know wears a drysuit - often in summer and always in winter - and I don't know > of any serious overheating problems. Of course, most of my paddling is Puget > Sound (Seattle) area or the west coast of Washington State. I've paddled ice > water without a dry suit but I am pretty sure I'd never do it again without > one. Or are you talking about racing? > > Wasn't there a story about a female Dutch kayak racer who died in a winter > workout without drysuit (or even PFD)? > > Maybe I'm just not tough enough. > > Craig Jungers > Royal City, WA *************************************************************************** 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 Sep 11 2007 - 10:52:35 PDT
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