Hypothermia post from the past to get us thinking.

[jason]

I ran into this post from the past and it got me thinking about the correct way to deal with someone that's been swimming and not dressed for paddling.

Jut something to think about:

http://www.nspn.org/htdocs/dcforum/DCForumID5/9.html

-Jason

[Celia]

Hi all. First time posting here I think. But re this story... there is something that a much better paddler pointed out and I have been glad I listened. One of the things that I usually have accessible in my day hatch is a cag that I can pull on over my head if need be in the boat. It's not fancy - a Kokatat Tropos top. But when I got it I was advised to get an extra large even though that is way too big for me. At the time I was thinking mostly about the ability to get it over my own head, and I thought it was pretty cool that I could kneel down and it would completely cover me.

However, that jacket has come out of the hatch more often for other paddlers than myself, and for the most part they've been guys who could never be gotten into one that was my size. I thought of it in the context of this story - something like that, if available, could have gone over the guy being rescued to block wind while he was being towed. But for an average size woman, that usually will mean that the cag has to be oversized for her.