55 degrees?? It must be nice to paddle in salt water that temperature. We wear dry suits all year long up here - unless paddling on fresh water(which is very rare).

Once the water temps hit around 5 degrees Celsius (41 F) I usually ditch the mittens and go with bare hands. And when rolling, I usually remove the balaclava at that time as well.

The mittens are a bit bulky but I can (barely) use my camera and GPS with them on. My main concern over them was the ability to safely take off/put on my spray skirt. Once I knew I could this, I went with, and stayed with, the mittens.

I dabbled with the pogies when I used a Euro. They were incredibly warm - even in winter - but they did not work well with the GP. Also, if you had nothing on under tham and you had to come out of your boat, your hands were exposed to the cold. A few minutes in the icy water and your hands are useless = BIG trouble!!

Sean

: Same here, the NRS mittens are warm.
: My only complaint is the tight fit. I like being able to take them
: on and off to fiddle with my iPod, cameras and stuff.
: Caveat: I live in Southern California, water here never gets below
: 55 degrees F.

: Gloves never really work as well as we'd like because we have so
: few muscles and blood vessels in our fingers. When they work,
: they're usually too thick to be able to
: do much with our fingers.

: Usually I wear NRS gloves and when it's 'cold' I'll wear the
: mittens.

: What would work for me even better would be thinner, more flexible
: neoprene mittens with little kid lanyards attached to my
: sleeves.
: It doesn't matter if they get wet inside so long as don't let the
: water run in and out.

: Will