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hey marcelo, this would be a techiques? topic, but being the tangent king who am I to quibble. 1. your experience in the water should be your guide, practice safely with discomfort being the only risk. 2. the exposure graphs printed by various agencies don't and can't quantify loss of function for you. For example at what point do your fingers stop working for reattaching skirt or performing self-rescues. Or at what point does cold water in the ear canal causes vestibular (balance/vertigo) problems. Or at what point in your calorie/energy ependitures do you become less competent to function. 3. the standard outfit appears to be , 3mm farmer john,polypro,paddling jacket.
a. as far as immersion is concerned you could toss the poly pro and paddling jacket and look for something that provides as much protection around
chest and neck and the 3mm does. A vigorous swim will tell you how well a paddling jacket works to retain heat. The paddling jacket/poly underwear works fine for protecting during a 3 second roll, but if that's
all one is protecting for then the wetsuit is not needed either. So if
a farmer john is necessary , then a few other items probably are also.
I tend to beat this one a lot because 3mm and jacket work well compared nothing, but there is a real tendency to use this minimal outfit as a
"one outfit fits all conditions" that it can be deceptive when the temp gets below 60 degrees (for me).
b. you can stretch that outfit with lots of other items, I think by now I
approached the price of a goretex drysuit with all those other items.
but here goes: fuzzy/rubbery shirts jacket have more comfort than
neoprene and have about the insulation value of 1-2mm neoprene(not
much help with 50degree water,but it add minutes of survival time). My personal favorite is a neoprene vest with lycra sleeves .
I think some kind of neoprene or fuzzy/rubbery hood or beanie is the most important thing you can add for cold immersion protection. The only problem is that is has to be awfully cold around your head to tolerate the insulation out of the water, the fuzzy rubbery hoods are
an excellent compromise.
I like Seal over the calf waterproof socks, this is not a real survival or immersion protection, it's just nice to have dry feet when peeling off the wet suit in the van.
4. I've been thinking of managing cold-water immersion like managing vehicle collisions: seat belts and modern cars make 5mph hour crashes fairly
painless(unless you don't have the seatbelt on and that load of metal pipe isn't tied properly). Kind of like 60-70degree water. For me, below
that (50-60degree) things start getting important, like in a 25 mph collision, protecting the head gets necessary. Below 50 degrees I'm making lots of assumptions, like I really won't be in the water for more than a 1/2 hour, arms and hands have to be warm and functional in immersion,forehead neck and ears have to be protected from very cold water. Other emergency clothing might need to be accessible for post immersion recovery or more in water protection. Open water crossings in 40-50 degree water pretty much points to insulated dry suit and the experience of rescuing in that outfit and in that water. I don't have one and paddle accordingly.
There's nothing like getting together with friends and trying this all out,,,"you first" "no, you first" "ok, I'm going now!" " aaaaahhhhhh,,,,,cccommmme ,,on onn in innn, the waters fine"
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Guillemot Kayak - High
Performance Wooden Sea Kayak Designs
