​Cold Water is discussed throughout the site.

 

Adverse Weather

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Lots of paddling advice tells you that you can skip wetsuits or drysuits when paddling on cold water as long as you paddle “close to shore in protected waters”. That's very bad advice because it completely ignores cold shock and important contributing factors like those below. 

Note: Wind is the most common adverse weather problem that paddlers encounter.

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• Wind Shadows - See Rule 1 Case 7 and Rule 2 / Case 3 

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• Wave Shadows - See Rule 2 / Case 3

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• Wind Blowing Offshore - See Rule 1 Case 7, Rule 2 Case 1 and Rule 2 Case 4.

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• Wind Against Current - Watch the video: Wind And Waves Against Current

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• Squalls and Thunderstorms - Watch the videos: Squalls and Thunder and Hailstorm on Estacada Lake

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• Below-Freezing Weather - Additional kayaking hazards occur when air temperatures are below freezing – for example, when paddling on 34F (1.1C) water when the air temperature is 20F (-6.7C). These include 1) Potential for frostbite, especially on your hands if you grip the paddle tightly. 2) Your sprayskirt freezing to the cockpit coaming – which could be fatal in a capsize. 3) Ice forming on primary and spare paddles, buckles, zippers, your knife, and your VHF radio. 4) The kayak deck becoming very slippery, and deck lines freezing to the kayak surface, making it difficult or impossible to hold onto the kayak during a rescue. 5) Your bilge pump becoming inoperable. 6) Your towline freezing into a tangled block of ice.  ​

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Also, especially in swiftly moving water, ice and snow on shore can make getting out of the water a big challenge.  With that last point in mind, Watch this short video from Finland.

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• Fog - Can you find your way back if you can't see the shore?

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• Paddling at Night - Ships and motorboats have can have difficulty seeing you in broad daylight - especially when the sun is in their eyes.  But at night, it can be virtually impossible to see you - even though you have lights on your paddlecraft.  Here's an excellent example in which the lights on the kayaks blend in with shore lights and light reflections on the water.

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Hazardous Waters

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• Inlets and River Mouths - See Rule 1, Case 8

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• Shoals and Bars - See Rule 4 / Case 3

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• Currents - Moving water is powerful, and when it interacts with obstructions, conditions can get very rough. It can also pin a boat or person against an obstruction with life-threatening results.  Currents are a significant feature of many hazards discussed in this section.

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• Convergence Zones - See Rule 3 / Case 2

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• Reflected Waves -   Video 1   Video 2

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• Strainers - Video

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• Low-Head Dams - The slang term for a low-head dam is "drowning machine".  They're well known as one of the worst hazards that you can encounter on a river.

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• Boat Traffic - Small, human-powered watercraft like kayaks and canoes aren't nearly as visible as larger boats.  They're very easy for motorboats to miss due to glare from sunlight. The speed of large commercial vessels like container ships is often much faster than it appears, their ability to maneuver is frequently confined due to a shipping channel, and they take a very long distance to slow down.  Treat them with extreme caution.

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• High, Fast, and Cold - Video

Moving water has its own set of hazards, and you have to understand them in order to avoid trouble. When a river current is fast, obstacles come into view quickly and can be hard to avoid. When the river is also running high, water climbs up and often overflows the banks. Take-outs become scarce, and strainers increase in number. Cold water compounds these dangers.

 

This dramatic video features a long, grueling, cold-water swim during which the other paddlers in the group struggle to tow the swimmer to shore or retrieve his kayak and paddle. Even though the swimmer is wearing a drysuit, he's physically and mentally hammered when he's finally able to reach shore.  One rescuer's kayak becomes wedged under a tree and capsizes, but fortunately the boat swings free and the paddler is able to roll up.  Note that the water doesn't look dangerous at the put-in. It takes courage to publicly post a video like this on the internet where anyone can see it, and we should all be grateful to Georgia paddler Shane Newsome for sharing it.

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• Whitewater - It's wise to learn about whitewater safety before you paddle on a river - even one that doesn't have a lot of rapids.  Many hazards, like foot entrapments, aren't at all obvious so you absolutely have to learn about them in order to avoid them.  If you're interested in whitewater paddling, take a whitewater course.  These are frequently offered by paddlesports retailers and also by ACA and BCU instructors around the country. One of the finest and most comprehensive whitewater safety films ever made was produced in 1977 by the American Red Cross.  After searching for a long time, I was able to find an archival copy and you can watch it here: "The Uncalculated Risk".  As soon as that film was released, I began showing it to my students at the beginning of every flatwater and whitewater canoeing course I taught at Carolina Wilderness Institute, and it never failed to give me goosebumps.   As you'll notice in the film, the equipment used by whitewater paddlers has evolved a lot.  What hasn't changed are the hazards.

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• Whitewater Rafting - Commercial whitewater rafting can be fun and exciting, but rafting is definitely not an amusement park ride.  Think of it as a moderate-to-high-risk wilderness adventure. If things go badly wrong, you could die.

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• Surf - Like whitewater, surf has its own dynamic and its own set of hazards.  Unless you want to get thrashed, get some personal instruction before you venture into surf.  It's a lot more effective than watching YouTube videos.