Mighty Cold Mayo
Mighty Cold Mayo
a Carolina Paddler Article
By Alton Chewning with Steve Johnson
-On January 20, the CCC held their annual event, the Mighty Mayo River Trip. Last year’s event had forty paddlers. This year only fifteen decided to get on the water. The main reason was the temperature. Low 20’s to start the day, warming to mid 20’s by noon. The paddlers were dressed for the conditions; everyone wearing dry suits and many layers, helmet liners, various gloves and the indispensable pogies for the kayak paddles. I think the canoeists were all using gloves not single blade style pogies.
The trip went well. There was one flip at a small strainer, with a self-rescue. Then we stopped for the usual break at Stateline rapid. Some of us exited boats to stretch the legs, grab a snack. Some surfed in the holes there. Steve Johnson was playing.
I splashed through the rapid, pulled over and got out to stretch and grab a sip of coffee from my thermos. I was wearing thin cloth fingerless gloves under my pogies. Normally used for sun, abrasion and blister protection, they were just a little something extra for warmth. They were wet so I took them off and put them on the deck of my boat to dry a bit.
Steve was doing an ender or some other play, flipped, and rolled up. He was fine but wide awake. Steve: I learned a lot of things that day. Getting wet and cold and rolling, that doesn’t bother me too much but sub-freezing air temps…. MMRT opened my mind to a lot of …. We need to think about things differently.”
Steve and most of the others paddled away, leaving a few of us stragglers behind. I went to my boat and picked up the cloth gloves. I was surprised to find them frozen into iceballs. Okay, not putting those on. I had some thin neoprene gloves with me and tried to put them on. They are tight and I couldn’t pull them up. Okay, I’ll just go with the pogies. Which proved to be fine. Pogies are warm and wonderful if you have your hands in them and are active.
I eased into the boat and reached to attach my neoprene spray skirt. Frozen stiff. I could not budge the icy skirt anywhere close to the three inches needed to stretch over the boat’s combing. Well. Joe Berry was nearby so I asked him for help. We couldn’t do it. Eventually four of us tugged and cussed and nicked fingers and bled and pulled and got the skirt on. So, it was funny in a way but in a different situation, without other people, it could have been less humorous.
On the short way down to Boiling Hole, we dropped over several ledges. On one a canoe turned and gradually rolled over. The paddler self-rescued while Steve and I paddled over to stand by for assistance. After dumping water, the padder started digging around in a dry bag and came out with another set of gloves. Since he wasn’t using canoe pogies, having a spare set of gloves was good preparation.
Many of us ran Boiling Hole (name doesn’t mean boiling hot) and boofed beside it or splashed straight through. Shane Brown and a dozen others were on shore, fresh from doing a sizable litter clean-up of the area. and now preparing food and hot drinks. Shane shouted, encouraging Steve, who was surfing near Boiling Hole, to try an ender. Rarely resisting a challenge, Steve pulled a good ender and then ended, like many enders, flipping into the water and rolling. A second dunking. We finished up on the S-Turn rapid and pulled our boats out of the water.
Steve picks up the story here. “I came out of the pogies at the take-out. Now this would have happened roll or no roll, but my hands are numb in less than a minute. Dexterity is gone. I keep my truck keys in my PFD pocket and the zippers are frozen. I could not, with no dexterity and numb hands, I could not get into it. I had somebody else try to open it, somebody who was on dry land all day. He couldn’t get into my PFD pocket. The ice was frozen solid. So, it took a while to get into my PFD pocket and get my truck keys back. I had a second set in my dry box in my kayak. The dry box is one of those Pelican style snap lids and I didn’t have enough dexterity to get into it to take the keys out and start the truck to warming.
To get out of my PFD, I had to go to Shane (who had been on shore the whole time coordinating the clean-up) and say Shane, “You egged me into this stern squirt here… I was already contemplating doing it myself, but he helped push it a step forward for me to say, I’m going to do one and then book it for the take out. Well, all the straps and buckles on my PFD are frozen solid. Couldn’t come out of them. Shane was having a hard time getting me out of my PFD. I have a safety rescue vest with the quick release, that was frozen. I could not pull it loose. Makes you kind of wonder if you really need to release it….
Before I put on the river, I had a plan. When I get out of the pogies at the takeout I’ll put on 4mm neoprene gloves. Too much, I thought, to wear under the pogies. Those are stored in my PFD. Now they are frozen. I couldn’t get them on. I could not put my hands in those gloves.
So, what did Steve and I learn from this icecapade?
-Steve: “Next time I will wear gloves in the pogies when it’s sub-freezing. It’s a different world.”
-We both agreed the pogies were fine by themselves at this temperature if staying active. It’s when you come out of them. Or immerse your hands.
-I decide it might be better to have a big furry pair of gloves stored in a dry bag and just put them on at the break and the take out, just to temporarily warm the hands. Zero dexterity but warming.
-Hand warmer packs could be useful too.
-Steve: Yeah, the chemical ones, the non-ferrous ones.
-The chemical ones. Some people say don’t put them where you want heat but put them up-bloodstream from there. Say, put on your wrists to warm your hands, your ankles to warm your feet.
-A question would be where to store the chemical packs so you could access then with numb hands. Not in your PFD if it might be hard to open. In dry suit pocket maybe? Could be in the dry bag with big gloves but having some on your person might be good, just in case you are separated from the boat.
-One person suggested having a large thermos of very hot water standing by in your car or elsewhere at the take-out. Or maybe carried in your boat. This could be used to unthaw frozen PFD zippers.
-Regarding my frozen spray skirt, we thought of a couple of solutions. One it to pour whatever warm liquid you have (leftover coffee or tea or urine) onto the skirt hoping it’s enough to thaw the ice. Another solution would be to find a safe, shallow pool and step into the water, still wearing the skirt until it’s submerged and thawing. If the air temperature is mid-twenties then the mid-thirties water is warmer. Of course once out of the water, your bottom half is wet so you should quickly get in your boat and start paddling.
-Steve and I agreed, we didn’t think we would get out of boats for a break, if at all avoidable. As long as you’re in the boat, ice doesn’t form as easily, and you stay warmer.
-One additional cold weather concern is Raynaud syndrome or Raynaud’s (ray-NOSE) disease. People who suffer from this condition feel unusually cold in extremities–fingers and toes–during cold temperatures and in stressful situations. The small arteries supplying blood constrict, limiting blood flow to affected areas. Affected fingers or toes can turn white then blue. Women tend to have Raynaud’s more often than men.
Steve, I and many other CCC members have attended Cold Water Clinics. The classes were very helpful but there is always more to be learned on the subject. This article is far from comprehensive and is only intended as a way of stimulating discussion.
I would paddle in similar conditions again. The MMRT is a great event and next year’s event (January 18, 2025) will be the 20th Anniversary. Joe hopes to have a record sized group there on shore and in boats. I plan to be present and will continue to look for small ways to improve the cold weather paddling experience.
