Cold-ish weather kayaking

[SoCalEDC]

Originally Posted by Gigafish

Neoprene waders for a early launch. $50 amazon. Work well with a beanie, glove and a sweater. Usually hot by 11.

great, thanks, def gonna pick some of those up.

Originally Posted by summers in kuwait

I get cold easy and then stay cold, so when its cold in the mornings 30s-40s and then warms up a bit, its nice to be able to shed layers as needed. I typically wear polar tech base wear top and bottoms. Then my patagonia waders, another top possibly and my paddling jacket. Then a beanie or cap to protect my ears and a face buff. A nice pair of fingerless gloves can help as well.

During the cold winter months, the surf can be bigger, so having a nice dry top and waders will help keep you dry during launching and landing. Its not fun to launch and start the morning wet and cold.

With the base layers, tops and bottoms its nice to have fast drying fabrics, but wool can work as well. It doesn't dry as fast as some of the synthetic materials but still insulates pretty well.

right on, thank you for the info man i appreciate it.

[chris138]

Winter Kit

bottom:

merino wool socks (like the skiing kind)
thermal underwear or tights
heavy sweatpants
stockingfoot breathable waders (neoprene not advised unless you like swamp ass)
crocs over waders for launching (ya I wear crocs bro)

Top:
lightweight top like a rashguard or PFG Columbia shirt
additional layer or fleece
heavy duty hoodie
buff rag
beenie
splash jacket over the top
pfd

I was out this week and it was 40 degrees at the launch at 5 am. In this setup you can take a full on barrel on the head and still be dry as a bone (except your head, maybe stash your beanie for the launch).

if anyone responds saying that you will drown in waders....

I was thinking about doing a youtube video to cover this, the topic seems to come up all the time.