: Thanks, Pete. The weather was beautifully warm but that said, a
: little cold is nothing a drytop and pogies can't fix. Glad you
: liked the pix.

: Robert N Pruden

Gotta be careful of just wearing popgies in really cold water. I was out with a few guys back in February. Water temp was around 0 and air temp was not any higher. One guy was cutting through a rock channel when a wave took him over. He could not roll back up because the waves were pushing him against the rocks so he came out out his boat. Of course he had all the right body thermal protection (drysuit and layers) but he only had on pogies so once his hands came off the paddle, they were exposed to the cold. By the time I did a t-rescue and got him back in the boat, he could not use his hands. It took a good while for them to "come back to life" and during that time, they were hurting like hell. If he had been on his own, it would've been pretty bad. His body was all nice and toasty from the full suit, but that's not much good if he couldn't use his hands.

I think a lot of people don't fully grasp how deadly cold water can be. Besides you hands, you really need to protect your noggin. If there's ever a chance of capsize, I'll wear my Kokatat balaclava. The cold shock of your head hitting the water can cause an involuntary gasp - which is not good when your submerged!!

The ice is just coming off the ponds here in Newfoundland as well. And we've started our Thursday night "salt water practices" again, so I guess spring might be just around the corner.

Cheers,
Sean