Note: Don't take this as sarcastic, just having fun here.....

Hello Mike,

Robert Pruden and myself are going to help you out with this one. First, let's figure out this cold versus warm liquid viscosity. Since down here fresh water is scarce, I'm going to use this Guinness Stout instead for our little experiment. Okay, I'm going to drink an ice cold Guinness.... gulp, gulp, gulp,..... aaaaahhhhh... 30 seconds. Now Robert is going to drink a warm Guinness..... gulp, gulp, gulp.... eeeewwww.... 20 seconds. Okay, that wasn't really fair, because Robert has more experience than me, and besides we need to both drink together. Let's try it again, this time we will both drink cold ones simultaneously..... gulp gulp gulp gulp.... TIE!!! Oh man, that really didn't prove anything. Now we both have to drink warm ones.... gulp gulp gulp gulp gulp.... TIE AGAIN!!!! Now let's see, what were we trying to prove? Oh yes, the cold versus warm water thing. Okay, this isn't really working, so I will paddle out in the warm water, and Robert will paddle out in the cold water. First, of course, let's have a few more beers.

(Two hours and twelve beers later) Robert: "Whhhheeeeeeeeeee...... crunch....." Malcolm: Oh, that's right, (hicup) the river is frozen and Robert just did his kayak bobsleding thing. Hey, (burp) where is Robert anyway? Oh my, he has fallen into the ice. I'll save him..... "SPLASH".... glub glub glub.... oh look, Robert dropped his beer. First things first... Hey, it's nice and cold in this water, I'd better not waste it.... gulp gulp gulp gulp. ..... Now, where were we? Oh yes, (hicup) saving Robert. Oh heck, if I save Robert then he's just going to want to share my beer. Sorry Robert, I'm going to take these back to the warm water with me and finish my paddle. Besides, this hypo-(hicup)-thermia thing is settling in, and I'm starting to get really.... glub glub glub..... *

So, there you have it, paddling in cold water is definately much slower.

Any more questions?

Malcolm

Seriously, however, I vote that cold water, only technically speaking, and not really very significantly, would be less viscous and more dense, and therefore even if it caused you to float higher and have less wetted surface, you still would have more drag, and would have a miniscule reduction in speed. Of course, just to add to the debate, you would also have greater dig with your paddle, so therefore more propulsion to overcome the added friction???? Hmmmmm....

-Malcolm