2021 NSPN Cold Water Workshop, April 10

[prudenceb]

The Xth Not Exactly Annual NSPN Cold Water Workshop went off without a hitch in Marblehead on Saturday.  Well, except that it was sunny with air temperature in the 60's.  Not exactly the cold we wanted, but the water was still in the low 40's.  Sixteen of us gathered at Riverhead Beach before splitting into covid-compliant pods for a short journey to Dolliber Cove, where we pretended it was cold and sought out spots protected from the wind, both on the water and on land.  Some of us sweated through this exercise, because it really was quite toasty out.  Before and after lunch, some of us tested out gear, dipping into the cold water, or maybe worked on winter-rusty skills...rolling and performing self and assisted rescues.  Thanks to Bob Levine and Jim Snyder for organizing it and the preceding zoom session, and Bob for herding cats and keeping us focused and on topic for the cold water paddle itself.

Here's some or the crew prior.

Janice Cotton.

 

Sue Hrciga and Sarah Enright

Sherry Smith

Cathy Folster and Joe Berkovitz socially distancing in a silly way.

Sarah Enright braving the chilly water to test out her drysuit under Joe Berkovitz's guidance.  It was Sarah's first cold water paddle.  Bravo!

Dana Sigall and Fred Goodman find warm and sheltered spots for lunch break.

Dana practicing a self rescue and learning a valuable lesson:  burp your dry suit or it will be much harder to do anything once you're in the water with buoyancy making it hard to maneuver.

Cathy Folster photographing me photographing her...

And here we were layered up and wearing drysuits to keep us safe from the 43 degree water, when along comes this paddleboarder...showing us how it SHOULDN'T be done!

Thanks to everyone for a fun, instructive and educational day.

Prudence

 

Edited April 13, 2021 by prudenceb

[Doug Cooke]

Great shots!

Thank you for sharing Prudence