This is the time of year when most paddlers in the northern U.S. transition to another sport -- often cross country skiing -- but some diehards paddle when they can find open water.  It can be a dangerous activity and all paddling organizations have tips for cold weather paddling.  Here's what Tom Warner, an experience marathon canoe racer, recently said on the PaddlersConnection email group:

Be aware that the cold water and cold air temperatures (not to mention wind chill) greatly reduce the survival time in the water or even out of the water after a dump. Please follow these precautions:
 
1. take a dry bag...not a plastic garbage bag... but a real dry bag with folding and sealed opening..have a complete set of clothes..socks, gloves and ski hat. Strip down and replace all wet clothes.
 
2. Do not paddle alone or too close to another boat... if you both go over...there's not one to help.
 
3. Do not wander far from shore...or from a path to your car. If you must paddle in the winter in NE, do loops around a safe retreat. 
 
4. Forget the boat and paddles..get to shore.  Let others get your boat and gear.
 
If you look at the few boating deaths in canoeing, they are all due to people not getting immediately out of the water upon flipping.

The first thing you need to know about cold water paddling clothing is this: NO COTTON.  Cotton clothing has no place in outdoor cold weather activities: it retains absolutely no insulating qualities whatsoever when wet and if it becomes so, will actually serve to disperse your body heat outward away from your body.  Remember, just because it is cold does not mean you won’t work up a sweat during active boating. You don’t have to fall in to get wet.

Instead, wear layers of synthetic materials. Some examples of these are polypropylene, pile, and fleece. Layers help trap heat and fend off water. Remember "wick, warmth, and weather" as you arrange your layers ­ light wicking fabrics first, then warm insulating sweaters or fleeces, and finally an waterproof outer layer to protect you from the elements.  Synthetic materials retain a large percentage of their insulating qualities even when soaked. And if they become so, you can actually whip them around over your head and shake the water out of them. Synthetic material also “wicks” moisture away from your skin. 

Here’s what Peter Heed recommends in Canoe Racing:

"A good bet for most paddlers in cold weather is to layer with polypropylene and wool. (Wool retains a large proportion of its insulating value after getting wet.) Wool hiking pants and a wool hiking shirt over polypro provide you with a small but significant margin of safety after taking a dunk in cold water. This clothing also enables you to retain some heat once on shore.
Often in a training run in early spring, you’ll start shedding your hat, gloves, and outerwear as you heat up. Make sure that you have some sort of dry bag with you so that you can stow the gear and have it ready as soon as you finish the session.
Gloves are needed in cold weather but since you’re going to get your hands wet, many fine skiing and hiking gloves are useless. One of the best solutions is a pair of thin wool gloves — they will tend to stay warm even when they are wet.
In real winter-type weather, I take a complete change of clothes  — wool pants and shirt, gloves, and hat — and put them in a watertight tote bag which I lock on a thwart. I leave the bag in the van so that it’s ready the next trip. It’s saved me several times  — I get to the bank, strip and get on the dry clothes fast. When it was 35°, it felt great! Besides, you may give some poor startled onlooker a good thrill!"

There are a couple of numbers that can provide some guidance: 100 and 125.   If the combination of the water temperature and the air temperature is greater that one of these, depending on what your are wearing for clothes. If you are dressed in non cotton; in other words you are wearing no cotton including your underwear, you may use the 100 rule. If you are wearing any cotton at all you need to adhere to the 125 rule.


What happens in cold water?
Cold water removes heat from the body 25 times faster than cold air. About 50% of that heat loss occurs through the head. Physical activity such as swimming, or other struggling in the water increases heat loss. Survival time can be reduced to minutes. Strong swimmers have died before swimming 100 yards in cold water. In water under 40 degrees F, victims have died before swimming 100 feet.

Five Tips For Winter Paddling

1. Always wear your PFD.
2. Cold weather paddling can be dangerous, particularly for a novice.  Stay no more than 20-25 feet from shore when paddling in early season.  Go out with a group.  There’s safety in numbers.
3. Let someone know where you are going (that doesn’t mean “Hey dear, I’m going paddling.”)
4.  Dress for the water temperature (No one ever goes out boating saying “I’m going to tip over today”)
5. Remember, there are only two types of paddlers -- those who have swum and those who will swim!

photos from Wavelength Magazine  

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We've had some very cold weather and not much snow -- and conditions should be good for nordic skating on some of the New England sites.  Here's what one website says about the sport:

Wild about Winter
I wish I had a river so long, I would teach my feet to fly ...
I wish I had a river I could skate away on. -- Joni Mitchell

"There's magic in a broad expanse of natural ice. It invites you to put on your skates and start exploring. You glide along effortlessly at superhuman speeds. Ice skating has to be the most efficient form of human transportation ever invented.

In northern Europe, especially Holland and Sweden, recreational lake and canal skating are national obsessions. But in the USA, hockey and figure skating are the obsessions. Everyone goes to the rink, and outdoor skating is a well-kept secret. This site is your introduction to the sport of cross-country ice skating in the United States and Canada.

Every winter, here in northern New England, ice forms on the small lakes and ponds in November or December. By January, the big lakes and most rivers are frozen too. The ice grows thicker and stronger through the winter, sometimes reaching a depth of three feet. Snowmobiles, ATVs and pickup trucks roar across the ice, and villages of ice fishing shacks appear overnight. Then, beginning in mid-March, the warm sunshine triggers the slow melting process that climaxes with "ice-out" in April.

If the ice is strong enough to support a fully-loaded dump truck, why don't more people skate outdoors? Because the ice is often buried under a blanket of snow.  But when a hard freeze comes in on the heels of a midwinter rain, the lakes and rivers are transformed into a skater's paradise. Sometimes the smooth ice only lasts a day or two, sometimes it lasts for weeks." 

One of the popular spots for nordic skating in Vermont is Lake Morey.  In the next two months, they will host a number of skating workshops.  Here's how they describe them:

Experience the centuries-old art of Scandinavian-style cross country ice skating across a frozen lake. Learn how to select the right equipment for you, and how to skate safely and efficiently (without getting tired) across all types of ice surfaces - hard and soft, smooth and rough, snow-covered and snow-free. Learn the basics of ice safety, including how to use a nordic skating pole to test the strength of the ice. By the end of the workshop you will have the necessary skills to skate on groomed ice and participate in"wild skating" tours. Workshop fee $30. Register online or call (802) 649-3939.

 Is this your winter to try nordic skating?  Bring your cross-country boots, get fitted, take a workshop, and see why this sport is getting so popular.

 photo from nordicskating.org

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Snow is crunchy under big boots
slow going for me – the dog flies.
Too cold for red squirrels,
but she finds many smells and mysteries.

A crack of a maple sounds like a gunshot
the dog’s tags sing as she cruises.
A far-off chain saw whines
I hope that’s next year’s wood he’s cutting.

Sun on my face in a rare clearing
warms my cheeks
a promise of what’s to come
Only weeks until grass starts showing.

Climbing up the ledges gets me puffing.
I pause, so does the dog. It’s quiet
For moments we listen – to nothing
It’s rare – but wonderful.

Far up, a jet out of Logan breaks the stillness.
They’re probably off to Europe,
packed cheek to jowl in a thin aluminum shell
To me, today, the woods are a better trip.

Suddenly, up ahead a Barred owl glides off,
low to the ground and silent.
The dog gives half-hearted chase --
she’s been there, done that.

The last half-mile is downhill, through the pines.
Time to let the mind soar and just enjoy
Oh, oh, the dog has found one of those “mysteries” and is eating it
“Jerk, idiot” ring out as I race toward her, too late
She chews and chews as she moves off toward home.

From the Boston Globe:

"Don't let the thermometer fool you. Whatever the temperature now, it's February and the worst, in all its delicious New England madness, is yet to come.

With conditions so variable, it's not easy to interview cyclists these days. "Goal-oriented" sums up pretty much every rider out in the streets, and whether they're trying to get to work, home, or just stay upright, talking with a chatty reporter isn't on the menu. "Do you have a few . . . " is the most one can get out before they disappear in a cloud of salt and slush.

Still, with careful observation, much can be learned about winter cyclists, members of that elusive and slightly cranky species. For starters, all strategies for dealing with the conditions fall between two extremes.

The first and most obvious is to turn oneself into the human equivalent of a tank: dense layers of insulation, wide fenders, tires that wouldn't look out of place on a truck. And the second? Keep yourself lean and hard, slicing through the snow and ice instead of trying to float over it.

I won't hide on which side of the spectrum I fall, sometimes literally. As the Swedes like to say, "Det finns inga dåliga väder bara dåliga kläder" - there is no bad weather, only bad clothing..."  (read the whole article)

image by David Blaine