Winter Tips: Year Round Paddling

October-November 1996

This is an article from WaveLength Magazine, available in print in North America and globally on the web.

by Lilian Alessa

As summer wanes into slideshows of fondly remembered campsites and glowing vistas, many of you feel you must bid your kevlar companions adieu until the next "paddling season" begins. For those of you who feel this way, I've got news for you... the season never ends!

In the Pacific Northwest we live in a "temperate coastal zone". That means it rains a lot. It also means that our winter weather is hardly severe, especially when compared to parts of Canada where you have to buy ice-skate attachments for your kayak. Unless you're made of sugar and become a puddle of mush if it rains, paddling in December can be as rewarding as it is in July. Fall paddling, to me, is in fact the ultimate time. No crowds, fewer hazardous motorboat rentals driven by folks who have only recently seen the ocean, plus the crisp promise of cool days and tingling night air.

But there are new rules if you want to go out and play with Mother Nature during the winter months. And the penalties for ignoring them are stiffer. Winter paddling usually means the air temperature is lower, the speed and intensity with which weather and water change is higher, as is the frequency of wind, rain and/or snow. These factors, among others, require you to adapt by wearing appropriate clothes, carrying equipment suited to inclement weather such as heavy duty tarps and tents, reliable stoves (and spares) and knowing how to use them in heavy winds and rain. Your skills in starting warming fires underwater will make or break those "I-shoulda-brought-a-snorkel" excursions.

Of course, you need to plan your route and contingency with exquisite care. Our old friend "judgement" should be along and on good speaking terms on every trip, long or short. Finally, and ultimately, you need to adjust your attitude in order to have fun while paddling in winter: the robust freedom we enjoy during those hazy summer months gives way to a more subtle, humble roam in the still slumber of the year's old age. There is a solitude that is granted by far more than the empty campsites. It's when we are granted audience to the greatest passions of the earth's moods, from the blinding glitter of sunlight on a shoreline bedecked in ice to the deafening thunder in your chest of surf hurled against the forest during the hysterics of a winter storm. My favourite is the incredible softness of moving through water, like glass, as the fluffiest of snowflakes settle soundlessly upon everything.

But before you decide to take Christmas vacation off the West Coast of the Charlottes, here are some things you might want to think about:

1. Hard skills are important regardless of the season but winter trips are not the time to discover you don't even possess a low brace. Hypothermia sneaks up on us when we least expect it, grinning at the prospects of far easier prey than in summer. If you are lacking hard skills and the experience of trip planning then perhaps this winter is not the time to plan your expedition. You might want to work on developing those skills in the comfort of a pool or in a sheltered bay with a good instructor. Some other skills to consider are starting fires in the rain, setting up tarps which won't become airborne in a gale and understanding the finer points of hypothermia. Contingency planning is crucial.

2. As far as specialized equipment goes, in cold weather I form an unnatural attachment to my pogies-little neoprene mitts that fit around your paddle shaft and keep your hands covered and warm. They are available at most kayaking equipment retailers.

3. Carry ample (i.e. not "adequate") clothing consisting of quick drying capilene, fleece and gore-tex type fabrics (for land) or other synthetic materials which won't absorb water. Remember, wet is wet. Hypothermia doesn't have variable cooling rates to distinguish between a fresh-water soaking and a salt-water soaking. Although quality clothing can be unjustifiably expensive, you might want to bite down hard on your VISA card and invest in comfort and safety.

4. Procure a wetsuit designed for paddling (or a drysuit if you like the sensation of wearing loose Saran wrap) and a well articulated, waterproof paddling jacket. If you own a drytop and can tolerate the neck seal without twitching madly, that will work as well. Of course, one needs a special attitude to tolerate slipping into a damp wetsuit in the morning. Do it enough and you'll actually look forward to it the same way you do rush hour traffic or flossing your cat's teeth.

5. You will need a reliable stove and a spare. Warm food and liquids on cold weather trips become very sensitive issues. As the sky falls and you predict the second coming of the biblical flood, a steaming bowl of soup or mug of tea gives one hope that it will, at some point, all be okay. Simple things, yes, but a source of intense crisis if your one stove fails and you can't start a fire. Carry a spare to avoid psychotic episodes among your companions.

6. Develop your wet-weather fire-building skills. As always, fires should respect minimum impact rules (See Wave-Length Aug/Sep 1996) and it takes some experience to coordinate a fire and tarp set up so you can enjoy both without comedy worthy of primetime TV. Carry a strong hatchet to split pieces of driftwood so they're easier to work with when wet. In winter, I mysteriously deny possessing a girl scout campfire badge and carry pieces of old bicycle inner tube or candles to aid in starting a small fire from wet wood. It also helps to carry a ziploc bag full of dry kindling. Again, a fire should only be used when absolutely required, usually to calm paddling companions who are convinced the world is about to end.

7. Develop a clothing system that allows you to have access to dry clothing when on land at all times. Also remember that you need to make the transition from sitting in your boat (where your legs and groin are well insulated) to the point where you can change into dry clothes. Don't underestimate how quickly you can cool in this period, or how fast your paddle can freeze to your deck. Always carry a complete (i.e. head to toes to fingers to nose) supply of emergency clothing which fits the largest member of your group. Heavy fingerless mitts allow you access to manual dexterity while setting up camp and to make the progression from pogies to heavy mittens less agonizing (for those of us who have Raynaud's syndrome).

8. Make sure you carry plenty of food consisting of high calorie goodies. In addition, carry a supply which can be eaten quickly, without cooking and which is readily absorbed by the body (such as high fat energy bars). Dehydration is an accomplice to hypothermia and is particularly problematic on rainy, cool trips where our perception of "thirst" is offset by visual cues of moisture. Drink as much as possible even though it seems counter-intuitive to down cold liquids when it's snowing. Warm liquids are a pleasant way of hydrating especially when you allow them to cool to lukewarm temperatures (the body's absorption of water is temperature dependent).

9. Carry a receiving weather radio or VHF if you don't have access to a reliable barometer (like an old brass hand-held) or a direct line to God. Watch the weather carefully and exercise conservative judgement.

A lot of the factors involved in winter paddling are common sense and intuition. Envision your trip and attempt to foresee what conditions and events you might encounter and provide for them in advance. With proper equipment, skills and planning you will enter a seldom visited world whose sometimes harsh demands are repaid in kind with dazzling magic.

P.S. If you look out off the waters surrounding Vancouver on various evenings this winter, you'll probably see a few of us clad in neoprene, rolling with the seals and laughing as if we've got mackerel in our wetsuits. Chances are, we probably do. An old wives' tale says they help keep you warm.

Lilian Alessa is completing a Ph.D. at the University of British Columbia in environmental science and has recently come to the realization she will soon have to leave academics and get a real job. Contact her at alessa@unixg.ubc.ca or via WaveLength.