Current Time On The Rock

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

"Winter Dip"


Tony doing water exercises practising water angels not the bubbly kind but the ones akin to snow angels.

If I am going to boat in it I figured I might as well get a feel for what it would be like to be actually "In" it. The water is cold make no mistake. I could feel the coldness trying to get through my drysuit but dry it was, and buoyant with the trapped air and of course the PFD. Figured not bad for a February in Newfoundland. A storm just rages outside right now.

4 comments:

Douglas Wilcox said...

Hi Tony what were you wearing under your dry suit?
Thanks
Douglas

Stan Mac Kenzie said...

Hi Douglas,

I use a polartec liner a heavy one and usually a lighter one for when I feel it really cold. However today I just used the heavy one. I would recommned for reades that you dress as warm as you can for cold water immersion. You never know when that might happen of course. Todays immersion , like most was not planned at home just something we decided on the spur of the moment but it certainly reenforces the need to be vigilant about dressing warm as is comfortable for paddling when in these conditions. I usually do.


Stan

Tony said...

Hey Douglas, I had on a polypro long sleve shirt under a fleece top with longjohns and a fleece bottoms under the dry suit. I had a pair of neoprene mitts (2 mil). I had generated a fair bit of heat paddling so that may have offset any rapid cooling down. I was it it for a fairly long time and wasn't bothered by the cold. Maybe this weekend I'll immerse before I paddle to see how I react to that.

Tony :-)

Douglas Wilcox said...

Thanks folks, we don't get it as cold as you but in the recent -5C weather I was also usingtwo layers of fleece top and bottom. When I first got a dry suit I tried a thick fleece on top and merino wool long johns but it was not enough in the really cold weather.