Suz

I have been a few times and helped on the floor selling. It is a pretty amazing sales event but it is still a sales event. The discounts are not any different than at the more local shows. What they do an amazing job at organizing are the seminars. Pretty much hourly there is something going on. Seminars about expeditions, techniques, camping, camp cooking and pool demonstrations. Some of the seminars and pool demo's have lines to be able to get in. This is the first show that any new products for 2013 will be shown and sold to the public. If you needed to visit the relatives in Madison anyway, it would be worthwhile to go while you are there. I can't imagine paying for a flight to go from the east coast otherwise. Any other questions?

Spider, you could 'test' the feet to be sure with just putting on gray cotton socks (will show you where the water is coming in as the wet spots show up better than on black or white). Put the feet of your drysuit on and then put them in a bucket of water. Works well in a big home depot type 5 gallon bucket. You don't have to put the whole drysuit on for this. Sit there for a few minutes or just until you feel wet. You can then mark them with a white or silver sharpie and then use aquaseal to seal them up. Of course if you glue up over an area that is delaminating, you can no longer send it in to Kokatat for their review/replacement. If it is glued, they can't see if it delaminated. Personally, if I get leaks in my suit, I send it back to Kokatat for leak test and repair. Even I am hopeful that my suit delaminates and they send me a new one:) Pin holes develop for sand/scree in your shoe (usually people who wear crocs or tevas with their drysuit find they get them quickly) or walking on the bare sock and getting pin holes. Or, someone who just walks a lot in their drysuit like ww paddlers who carry their boats for a few miles to a spot.

The frybake pan looks similar to the one I use: http://www.altrec.com/backpackers-pantry/outback-oven-ultra-light?cm_mmc=Mercent-_-Google+PLA-_-Backpacker%27s%20Pantry-_-131542&mr:trackingCode=1FA37F38-FC0B-E111-AC9E-001B2163195C&mr:referralID=NA&mr:adType=pla&mr:ad=18027139617&mr:keyword=&mr:match=&mr:filter=21201823497&origin=pla&gclid=CPLKztrB77MCFQ-e4Aod3G8Axw Although, I don't use it much as I find it is great for two/three people but I am usually traveling with more. I do bring the tent parka as it is very useful in saving fuel and keeping things warm when the stove is off.

I couldn't find preserved lemons and so left them out. I did find a recipe though and it was just quartered lemons salted and they make their own brine. In a few weeks time, the whole thing becomes edible, skin and all. I think I might try making some as it is Meyer Lemon season and they are so tasty. Yes, camping recipe. I look for things that would last for a trip but still be fresh. The onion/potatoes/squash/dried chick peas will all travel well. That yummy goodness all over a bed of whole wheat couscous would be delicious after a cold day paddling.

If we can, I made a great meal tonight that will definitely be part of the camping collection of recipes with very little adaptations. I found it on a blog - smittenkitchen.com Only adaptation I would make is to use olives w/o pits as they get confusing when eating the non pitted ones with the toasted almonds on top. I also always prefer dried chick peas and soaked mine throughout the day today before making it. Squash and Chickpea Moroccan Stew Serves 4 to 6 1 tablespoon unsalted butter 1 tablespoon olive oil 1 medium yellow onion, small dice 4 medium cloves garlic, thinly sliced 2 teaspoons ground cumin 1 (3-inch) cinnamon stick Salt and freshly ground black pepper 1 pound butternut squash, large dice 3/4 pound red potatoes, large dice 2 cups low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth 2 cups cooked chickpeas, drained 1 (14-ounce) can diced tomatoes, with juices Pinch saffron threads (optional) 1/2 preserved lemon, finely chopped 1 cup brined green olives (Aida recommended Cerignola) Steamed couscous, for serving (directions here and elsewhere on the web) Fresh cilantro leaves, roughly chopped, for garnish Toasted slivered almonds, for garnish Plain yogurt, for garnish Hot sauce of your choice (for serving) Heat butter and olive oil in a 3- to 4-quart Dutch oven or heavy-bottomed saucepan with a tight fitting lid over medium heat. When oil shimmers, add onion, garlic, cumin, and cinnamon, and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until spices are aromatic and onions are soft and translucent, about 5 minutes. Add squash and potatoes, season with salt and freshly ground black pepper, stir to coat, and cook until just tender, about 3 minutes. Add broth, chickpeas, tomatoes and their juices, and saffron, if using. Bring mixture to a boil then reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer until squash is fork tender, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in preserved lemon and olives. Serve over couscous garnished with cilantro, almonds, and yogurt.

Kokatat makes a Tempest Pant out of the T3 material. It is high waisted and has socks. It works well as a planned outfit on the water with any double tunnel top. Alternatively, you can put them on top of whatever else you had one as a wind break, warmer alternative. When worn swimming in white water, TWICE, I got about 1/2 cup of water in each foot. That is with a drytop, neoskirt and life jacket. If not worn with all three, you would probably get more in during a swim. Unlike a bib, if the pants were to get flooded, you could easily slip them off, even when in the water. Flooding during a swim was my original concern with the pants but I have not found that to be the case. The current version is only available for men. 2013 version available after Jan 15 will be available in the new version of T3 - Hyrdrus 3L or Gore-Tex AND available in women's sizes. Nice thing about the T3 and the future Hydrus 3L and of course the Gore-Tex is that they all carry the same lifetime warranty. I personally don't like a gasketed pant - the gaskets just are so annoying. Plus if I am cold, I don't like my feet wet. Peter likes the bib's but they are pricey and really shouldn't be used without a drytop which makes them a piece that doesn't get used much. A bib could not be removed while on the water if they were flooded as the bib top would be under a life jacket and with a skirt on. Therefore to be used safely they must be used with a drytop. Truthfully by the time I wear a drytop, I usually just get in my drysuit.

Must say with the ice on my rinse water from the night before, I wasn't really looking forward to the day and getting cold. I dressed a bit warmer than usual to account for the 'standing around' and it made a world of difference. As a round up, we had 29 people attending, 16 people were repeat offenders. Without such a great group of people coming out and willing to get cold, we wouldn't be able to leave the beach. So, my thanks goes out to all who came out to give a hand.

I like picture #38 the best. Could you please e-mail me a high res of that one?

For all who have received their notices with details, we are ON for tomorrow! Meet at the beach to be dressed and ready to launch by 10 a.m. Really big group this year!

It might be because Jason edited it to fix. Cathy's post has same issues for me and I am using Firefox.

Jason - that is exactly what I see.

WOW, that is really ugly on my screen. Is everyone else seeing all the font/character designations?

We have a very large group of participants signed up to attend the workshop. We can't add any more new participants to the list. If you have signed up and your name is NOT on the list, please e-mail me at once. suz at kayakne dot com There are 29 attendees. 13 of those have attended a NSPN cold water workshop in the past. Please watch for a post on Saturday that will confirm that this will take place. Scott and I will be watching the weather carefully and will make a decision on Saturday and will post either way if it will take place or if it will cancel due to weather. We also may change the location of the workshop based on wind or weather. So stay tuned for more info! Updated list of participants: Joseph Rounds Ron Totagrande Katherine Ryan Gene Cosloy Jeff Charente David Burgess Will Burgess David Mercer Glenn Crowley Bill Voss Dee Cleary Susan O'Connor Karen Gibson Florrie Johnson Cathy Folster Eric Kirton Shari Gallant Liz Burgess Pru Baxter Tim Boyle Sue Boyle Sal Puglisi Jason Kates Cathy Foley Doug Mogill Kevin Horner Peter Brady Scott Camlin Suz Hutchinson

Thanks Cathy. Looking forward to seeing you. E-mail me so I can send the packet of info and you can RSVP w/ details.

Drysuit Requests for the Cold Water Clinic: Katharine Ryan WIll Burgess Florrie Johnson If your name isn't here, I'm not planning on bringing a drysuit for you. If you are coming to the clinic and need a loaner drysuit, let me know ASAP.

Here is the list of people participating in the cold water workshop. I would still like to have a few more experienced paddlers join in for the day. So, if you can help, please let me know so I can send you the packet. David Mercer Sal Puglisi Glenn Crowley Karen Gibson Jeff Charente Susan O'Connor Bill Voss Ron Totagrande Kevin Horner Eric Kirton Gene Cosloy Elizabeth Burgess Florrie Johnson Joseph Rounds Connie Dawson David Burgess Cathy Folster Pru Baxter Rob Folsetter Peter Brady Suzanne Hutchinson Scott Camlin

Love, love, love wool. I just threw out ALL my cotton socks. Started with buying wool socks for every day about 4 years ago and the sock drawer was really full with all the other socks. I live in my wool camisoles. Love the wool long undies from both Icebreaker and Smartwool. They are washable in cold and you hang on a rack to dry. I will say that you need to be proficient at mending if you commit to wool. I darn all my tops and bottoms because they do get pinholes quite often and they are way too expensive to through out. Personally I like to wear wool next to skin and poly outside to help wick. Kokatat has just come out with a wool/poly blend that is 60/40. The poly is to help with the wicking and make it less fragile when wet. I have a few pieces on order and will let you know what I think shortly. I have found that "sweaty" people don't like wool as much as others.

What you suggested works. BUT, I am way too cheap to own 4 pairs of gloves! What I use for gloves is just one on water and a pair of pogies. If I need to warm up my cold wet gloves after a stop, I just pour hot tea in them. I figure it can't hurt the gloves. Off water I use a thin polypro liner style glove (Mountain Hardwear my current favorite) - store those inside my drysuit always warm and dry for when I need them. Always leave a pair of mittens and hat on the car seat for when I am done paddling and need to warm up to tie the boat on. Last year prior to the cold water workshop we had numerous 'how to' threads on the message board. This was an effective way to learn from others and the information provided by all was very specific. Perhaps someone wants to start up a few to get people thinking.

Lots to add to this but think it might be best to break it down into separate sections so that the info would be more usable for all. I have started typing and erased a few times because I have too much to say and not enough time to say it! Down - do a search on the new down with ' nano technology' - really looks promising for water environments. Don't rely on one stove and you certainly need hot food 3 + times a day to warm up! Nights are too long for winter kayak camping in my opinion. Never enough time to dry things out and you have to put on cold/frozen things. Nalgene bottles filled with hot water help to warm cold feet. Use the water in the morning for your oatmeal.... Bring extra fuel and batteries as the long nights require more of both. Use a pot parka to help cook faster. http://www.backpackerspantry.com/products/outback-oven.html Don't plan to do much food prep while you are out. Cold fingers don't chop well. Make your food ahead of time and bring along as is. The cold temps allow for keeping most food cold enough... Ice on the ocean is mainly an issue where the tidal rivers freeze up and then after the high tide the ice comes out the river towards you or blows into places to prevent you from coming ashore.

Sounds like you had a splendid day! At some point, you can bring boats over to winter in the barn and it can be returned at that time.

Update - at this point, we have approximately 12 people signed up for the event. That is a combination of helpers (people who have done a cold water event prior) and participants. I will be e-mailing out loads of info to all in about a week. It will be information about appropriate dress for the day and logistics. It will not be location. Location will be determined within about two days of the event based on wind/weather. In years prior, we have done these at Lanes Cove, Gloucester, Pavillion Beach, Ipswich. Don't wait too long to RSVP as I will be cutting off reservations ahead of time just so that I am sure that people have time to be prepared for the day with appropriate clothing. BTW, this event is not for people who just bought their new kayak. It is for people who have been paddling through the summer and are looking to learn how to extend their paddling season. If anyone knows of a location where we could have access to a inside room (unheated is fine) along with an interesting place to paddle, feel free to let me know. Suz

Hi Eric, Glad you can come. Please e-mail me directly as I will be sending EMAIL communication to all with additional information as we get closer to the date. IN the meantime, I am collecting all e-mail addresses for the even. RSVP - suz@kayakne.com

Scott Camlin and Suz Hutchinson will be conducting the yearly cold water event this year on Nov. 18. This will be a workshop done as a "learning on the go" style paddle as was done for the Spring CAM workshops on the water. • Review of cold water physiology and clothing; recognizing hypothermia; • Dunk tests • Rescues and tows • Group scenarios; CAM/leadership issues related to cold water; • Warm up practice (on-water and on-shore) • Indoors debrief (if we can find a place nearby to where we will be paddling.) Our launch will be planned as we get closer to the event. It will depend on wind/weather conditions. Most likely we will plan this near/on Cape Ann or perhaps Ipswich. Any updates to the trip will be posted to the NSPN website and the evening before we will post the location depending on the weather. More information will also be posted on the calendar. The paddling will be within level 2 guidelines on NSPN. Please read those: http://www.nspn.org/paddle_levels.htm We would like volunteers (one per 3-4 participants) so that we will not need to limit participants. Please include this in your RSVP if you have attended a cold water workshop in the past and are now looking to help. If you are interested in using a drysuit for the day, Suz will bring Kokatat demo suits. They will be available on a first come/first serve basis. When rsvp'ing let Suz know if you are hoping to use a drysuit and what size you think you are so she can make note: http://www.kokatat.com/sizing_mens.asp http://www.kokatat.c...zing_womens.asp If planning to use a drysuit, please bring form fitting fleece to wear underneath, wool/fleece socks and closed shoes that can be worn OVER the drysuit sock and your socks. Fleece jackets are too bulky to go underneath a drysuit. Please bring any gloves/hoods/hats/shoes that you have that are extra so that if someone else is missing an article of clothing, they can borrow. RSVP - suz@kayakne.com

Actually, Christopher is correct. Werner paddles recommends taking apart and rinsing after each paddle. Although perhaps the taking apart each time you get out of the boat is what was recommended. Although, I do that too as my cockpit is short (short legs and foam bulkheads) and if I put a whole paddle into the cockpit, it falls out if you move the boat. So, I usually take apart and shove it into the cockpit during breaks. I think a call to Werner customer service is in order to ask for suggestions to make the paddle less sticky.