Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Dry is Dry,
Warm is Warm
So we got ready to launch, Greg, Jennifer and I. It was warm yesterday, almost as warm as the day before. The lake, of course, was still trying to get into the mid 40s. Dressing is always a compromise in such conditions. Dry suit? Absolutely, but not too many layers or one will sweat to death. The water is still too cold to roll in order to cool off. Then I saw it.

A squall line coming down from the north west. It was like a dark line of rolling black clouds, and I knew the weather would change soon. In moments (seconds, not minutes...but I digress), the temperature dropped almost 20 degrees and a Nor' Easter blew an even lower chill factor. The sun disappeared.

We paddled around inside the break wall, just to practice. Inside my dry suit, I could feel the fingers of cold trying to get to me and knew that, even if the weather hadn't changed, I was not properly dressed for the water. Lessons relearned.

Paddle safe...
DS

1 comment:

Michael said...

Dressing for cold water in warm weather is always a tough call. Glad that things went in your favour this time out!