The Well-Dressed Paddler
Or:   Your Clothes Could Save Your Life

by:  Jessie Ravage

Paddling in high, cold spring currents presents dangers that a leisurely lake paddle in hot weather does not.  Among these is hypothermia.  Hypothermia slows body function, including brain function.  As you get colder, you become fuzzy-headed and can make errors in judgment.  The longer your are exposed, the slower your heart will pump until it stops altogether.

Clearly, this is to be avoided.

Dressing properly and planning ahead can significantly diminish your likelihood of becoming extremely cold.  Here are some tips.

• Never wear cotton clothing,
  not even cotton underwear, for paddling, except possibly when the air temperature approaches body temperature.  Mountaineers call it "Killer Cotton," because it holds moisture next to your skin, diminishing your overall skin temperature, and chilling you to the bone.
  
  I learned my lesson my first year on the river when we dumped the boat in rushing 35-degree water.  I had on cotton blend tights, a cotton turtleneck, and cotton underwear.  We were lucky:  we got the boat up, but we had to turn around.  As soon as we were back in the boat, my lips were as blue as my tights.  My partner that year got the lesson further beaten into him when he wore a cotton t-shirt on race day, and we got caught in a wall of storms with cold rain above Sidney.  He couldn't get warm again, even with more than eight miles of hard paddling to go.
   
• Wear Layers.
  The best choices for layers include a variety of high performance fabrics and the traditional outdoor fiber, wool.  Polartec and its other fleece cousins are good middle layers under a windproof garment.  They are also good outer layers on calm days or when you've warmed up and are looking for a little breathability in your clothes.  Long underwear made of thermax or polypropylene, wicks moisture away from your skin because the fibers are coated with a waterproof material like paraffin.  These, or wool long johns, make a good first layer.
  
  Simple polyester is not as good because it is mildly absorbent, and will hold moisture against your skin.  Coolmax underwear will move the sweat accumulated under your rump next to seat away from your skin; wool socks with keep your tootsies warm.  Wool remains warm even when very wet, and some regarded it as the ultimate outdoor fiber.  It also doesn't stink when you've been working hard in it like polypropylene and many of its cousins do.
   
• You might buy a wet suit.
  This will keep you warm if you do accidentally go swimming.  Many paddlers choose the overall type rather than a full body suite because the shoulder straps also allow more mobility than the full suit.
   
• You should have a good life vest.
  (Personal Floatation Device)  This PFD should be the zip type, fitting you closely and adjusting so that you can fit two or three layers under it.  When you buy it, move around in it, raise your shoulders, raise your arms.  Be sure the neck doesn't cut you under the chin or rub at the armholes where it can chafe you raw.  Don't hesitate to spend a good chunk of change on this piece.  As a notably frugal friend of mine noted when he took his wife to choose a vest: "I'd rather spend the extra money and have her wear it.  Twenty dollars more is a pretty inexpensive insurance policy."  --- Wear it in dubious conditions.  Don't just stash it in the boat the way a lot of us do.  The vest will give you buoyancy if you dump, saving energy you might need to get ashore and collect the boat and flotsam.  In cold, windy weather, PDFs, also add insulation.
   
• If you should dump,
  you will want a full set of clothes packed in a water right container.  This should include all the items you would normally wear in that day's weather conditions, plus, because you will be cold, an additional upper body layer, a a wool hat and wool gloves and mittens.  As soon as you have this container--it can be a plastic bucket with a tight lid or a rubber-coated dry bag--unpack it and change into the contents.  Don't let modesty hinder this critical step in self-preservation.  Even on a 65-degree day, you will be VERY cold after a swim.