super dorky but effective hand protection from the cold

When I was paddling in Calgary, the rowing coach would scold us whenever he thought we were allowing our hands or knees to get too cold. He would say we were going to feel it when we were older. I believed him, he was old afterall, and aimed to keep my joints as warm as possible. Nonetheless, my hands now tell me that he was, indeed, right.

With this in mind, I’m going to share with you my solution for OC paddling in the cold. It looks dorky, the boys will feel they are too cool to wear this, but, believe me, it’s not so cool to be old, like me, and have sore hands all the time either. So, this is what I do:

1) Wear those light synthetic wool gloves that you can put together into a tiny ball. You know the ones that look all small and then your hand stretches them out?
2) Wear rubber gloves (kitchen) gloves over top.

Why this works is that:
1) your inside gloves only get wet with sweat, which is warm
2) the rubber gloves keep out the water and maintain a grippy surface to your hands
3) your fingers don’t feel like they’re working against resistance to bend – like they have to with neoprene. They can grip normally.
4) wind is blocked

For dragon boat, though, I would suggest pogies which are available at MEC. http://www.mec.ca/Products/product_detail.jsp?PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=845524442095359&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374302885971&bmUID=1259959606158. These don’t work for switching sides in OC though.


There you have it! Be non-dorky at your own risk!