Re: [Paddlewise] Elite racers

Tord Eriksson <tord_at_tord.nu> wrote:

>> For guys like these Chillcheater's Aquatherm stuff sounds perfect -
>> thin and much more flexible than neoprene, and yet warm enough!

I use a Kokatat variant of this below my waist, and it is a lot better than 
tights or bare legs, but very much less insulating than 3 mm of neoprene. 
In the cold water they were in, I do not think it would extend their 
survival time much more than another half hour to an hour or so, if we are 
talking about full immersion.

The critical problem for effecting self-rescue is that the hands go fast, 
and then you can not help yourself much.  That is the benchmark to use, I 
suspect.  I have about 15-20 minutes in cold water (45-50 F) of good time 
for my hands if swimming and immersed, wearing my Kokatat surf pants and a 
dry top and PFD (the PFD helps a lot in the insulation department). 
Wearing a farmer john, in lieu of the Kokatat pants, I've got maybe 2 hours 
of good time for use of my hands.  Maybe more; I've surfed in this outfit 
for a couple of hours once or twice, spending a lot of time in the water 
(I'm a terrible kayak surfer!), and never lost any functionality of my hands.

The theory is that in 15-20 minutes, I have ample time to effect a cockpit 
re-entry and self-rescue.  Seems to be valid in the conditions I have 
tried, which were 2-foot wind chop, 12-15 knots of wind.  In 30 knots of 
wind, I think I would be in trouble, though.  Very difficult to re-enter in 
truly rough seas.

-- 
Dave Kruger
Astoria, OR
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