I'm having to pick and chose my paddling days carefully now as it's decidedly less fun to have to face into the icy spray when it's really cold and windy. When I passed under the bridge today to get to the lake, it was reasonable calm with only a slight breeze. I was about a couple of kilometers up the lake when suddenly the wind kicked in fairly hard. In no time, waves had built and began their nasty habit of throwing spray in my face.
I slipped over to the opposite shore and into a wind-shadow and this tactic worked for a while. Then the shore line veered off and let the wind at me again. I turned about and surfed my way back to the ice jackets on the bridge pillars. Interesting how they grow, now fat and then pinched in. I didn't stick around to watch the process, but it is curious.
I've been storing my kayak in an unheated shed which means I have to de-ice and free-up all the fittings, the rudder cables and so on before heading out. I'm getting better however. I now turn the boat over so some of the water/ice manages to drip off should the shed warm up at all. There are lots of little secrets to cold weather paddling...
92/100; temp: -4°C; cloudy; moderate wind.
5 comments:
Shows what a protected paddling life I'm having down here!
Re the freezing up problem:
THE solution, of course, is a VK - "Look Ma, no rudder!!!"
You could try some sort sort silicone-based spray - it displaces water well, and is so slippery nothing sticks to it, but you don't want it underfoot! Alternatively, you could coat the moving components with some sort of clean grease - anhydrous lanolin is my favourite - that creates a water shedding/water-resistant layer. Lanolin gets stiff in the cold, tho - I'll check with Jim re the low-temp silicone grease divers use on their regulators, etc.
And you've really, really got to try using lanolin on exposed facial skin (not much in your case!) - we've used it for decades when skiing in very cold, windy conditions, and it's amazing! I've had sweat pop right thru a thick layer and freeze atop it, while the skin beneath was just fine. It's also very good at filling in those little lines some older gentlemen have around the eyes, I'm told...wouldn't know anything about that myself, of course...
Regards, and take care out there.
Rick
How about a nice shot of a fire place with some logs aflame? I can see ice outside my window :)
Lanolin's also great on the wee one's rear end. Same theory, I suppose...
Kristen,
Indeed it is - that's how we originally discovered it! Later found out it was the base for most salves and ointments back in the days when druggists compounded their own concoctions.
An old Brit-trained doctor friend figured the lanolin was the reason most of those preparatins worked at all. Also ideal for chapped or dry skin, hangnails, etc. We get it thru our pharmacy - they have to order it for us...
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