After a turbulent year, we suddenly find ourselves on the cusp of winter and the endless combinations of cold, wet and windy days presented by the good old British weather. As we say farewell to our shortie cags and board shorts until next year, let’s remember to pack the essential clothing and kit which can make a cold day on the water more comfortable and reduce the risk of hypothermia, cold-water shock, frozen fingers and hours shivering misery!
Tag: Warm
It was surprisingly cold last weekend signalling that winter is well on its way and the winter gear needs to be dug out of the spare gear bag.
One of the items placed in the main bag ready for next week is a pair of the Palm Equipment Current pogies. Pogies or paddle mitts are a great way to keep your hands warm/dry. They come in lots of varieties but are normally made from nylon/fleece or neoprene. The Palm Equipment Current pogies are made from 200D nylon and have a micro fleece liner.
Astral have recently launch some socks to compliment their range of on/off water footwear. Pretty simple but the specs look good.
1. A good dry top/trouser combo or dry suit. Keeping dry inside makes keeping warm that much easier. Even some of the two piece systems (dry top and dry trousers) available are getting close to being as good as a dry suit. Price is some much better as is the flexibility of the system.
2. Solid footwear. Wet river banks and slippery rocks are not a great combination if you have dodgy footwear. A good pair of river shoes or boots are worth there weight in gold. Currently using Five Ten Water Tennies or the new Astral Rassler.
3. Good socks. Conventional socks only really work if you have a dry suit with built in dry socks. However various manufacturers make thin 3 and 4mm thick neoprene socks that can help keep your feet warm even when wet.
4. Base layers. I love merino kit – it’s warm when wet and doesn’t smell! But any good, thin base layer will do the job. Colder = more layers. Polartec fleece also works really wet in cold/wet conditions.
Keeping warm is often difficult when you paddle whitewater during the winter. I find that the one area that is difficult to keep warm are my hands. I’ve tried neoprene gloves (which work once warmed up), the woollen/washing up glove combo and various other bits/bobs.
Many years ago I owned a pair of pogies (aka paddle mitts), I can’t remember the brand but they were blue/fluorescent yellow. They did a good job of keeping the wind off until they got wet, which meant my hands got wet and cold. Roll on ten years or so and I picked up a pair of Palm Rivertec Pogies. The ones pictured below are still used and must be well over 10 years old. Palm do a modern take on the Rivertec Pogies called River Tec Paddle Mitts
Pogies are designed to be fastened onto paddle shaft. Your hands go inside of the pogies and grip the paddle shaft as normal. Compared to wearing neoprene gloves or indeed any gloves at all improves the general feel and control. Some paddlers do find them restrictive as your hands need to be removed to access pockets, pull your spraydecks rip cord etc. In addition some designs can be difficult to get your “last” hand into.
Staying both warm and dry makes any kayaking adventure that much more pleasant. I’ve been kayaking for over 25 years now and am amazed how much the kit has moved on during that time. Way back then getting soaked to the bone was pretty much a standard feature of paddling even if you didn’t swim. Even though staying dry is much easier and therefore makes keeping warm itself so much easier it’s important to get your insulation layers right.
I tend not to feel the cold as most folk but I still pick my insulation layers really carefully to make sure that I not only stay nice and warm but that I do not over heat. I personally find overheating way worse than being too cold.
As with most sports you can start off really cheap and work your way up as you get more into it. Clubs tend to have a good supply of safety kit, wetsuits, paddles and boats. However having some of your own personal kit is a great idea as somethings are better not shared!
The frosty mornings are definitely here and keeping warm whilst on the water is the key. Therefore I thought I’d do a quick run down of the kit I would typically wear to keep warm whilst on the river. The key to keeping warm is to use layers of clothing and to keep as dry as possible.
My winter paddling gear is as follows –
PFD, helmet, boots/shoes and spraydeck don’t real change through the seasons, although if it is really cold I might wear a Playboater Titanium Earwig
My dry kit does change, as I tend to move away from using Dry Tops/Shorts to full suits.
To keep me dry I like to wear a dry suit. I have owned the Palm Spark Surface Immersion Suit and Immersion Research Double D Drysuit in the past and now use a Sweet Protection Intergalactic Dry Suit. Continue reading
Staying both warm and dry makes any kayaking adventure that much more pleasant. I’ve been kayaking for over 25 years now and am amazed how much the kit has moved on during that time. Way back then getting soaked to the bone was pretty much a standard feature of paddling even if you didn’t swim. Even though staying dry is much easier and therefore makes keeping warm itself so much easier it’s important to get your insulation layers right.
I tend not to feel the cold as most folk but I still pick my insulation layers really carefully to make sure that I not only stay nice and warm but that I do not over heat. I personally find overheating way worse than being too cold.
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