Hip Wader and kayak recovery

I just bought some hip waders because the dry suit is to hot sometimes and shorts are to cold so I figured whats another $100 for this crazy hobby.  My question is the effects of going over wearing these waders and if anyone has had any problems.  There is a belt that comes with the wader and it must be worn to prevent water from entering but I'm sure it doesn't prevent all the water from entering and some will enter the wader.  Does enough water enter to cause problems trying to get back on the kayak?  If anyone has any experience can you please let me know. 

Thanks,

Luis

Put your stuff on in this order. Waders, belt, paddle jacket, pfd. Make sure your paddle jacket is over the waders and not tucked into them. The belt should be snug and tighten the draw string or velcro at the bottom of the paddle jacket. You should have little or no water enter should you take a dunk provided you don't stay in the water for any amount of time.
Fall out and get back on would be no problem.

Thanks for the advice and sequence of installation.

If I get a chance this summer, I'm going to try it at a lake, shallow water of course.  Better safe than sorry.  It would be nice to hear from others who may have tried it unintentionally.  The ocean is not a good place to find out that you have to remove your waders and all you have underneath is shorts.  This could be life threatening with some of the water temps during the winter.  Like they say plan for the worst and hope for the best.

Luis

I use the same setup when I fish fresh in the winter or the bay. I do worry about getting water in there though. A quick dunk and you would probably be fine but if you had to be in for a prolonged time it might not be water tight.

I would never go waders only in the ocean. Wetsuit all the way.

Waders in the ocean??? NEVER!!!!!!!!!
Wetsuit always.

I went for and unintentional "swim" this past Sat in Monterey.  I wear a farmer john wetsuit underneath farmer john breathable waders.  Over that I wear a kayak windbreaker with gaskets on my wrists and neck.  The post is on:

http://www.norcalkayakanglers.com/index.php/topic,9797.0.html

Regarding the amount of water you're looking at taking in.  In the past I have taken a small dunk when I slipped in the surf in Linda Mar.  I was fully submerged but stood up right away and didn't have a drop of water entering my waders. 

When I was swimming in the surf this past Sat. I managed to right my kayak and was about to make a reentry except the waves weren't going to let that happen.  So I had to push/surf my kayak to shore.  I suspect that my time in the water was about 15 minutes.  If I was out in the open ocean I would have been able to get back in.  There was no loss of flotation and if anything I got warmer because my wetsuit was now trapping body heat.

Once I landed I did notice a little extra weight from the water but it didn't stop me from running around to pick up gear and dragging my yak up on the beach.  When things had settled down and I was in the waiting mode, I did strip down to empty the water from my waders.  I suspect that I had about a gallon of water in there.

There wasn't anytime where I felt I lost flotation or thought I was being dragged down by water in my waders.  Could have been that I secure my PFD tightly before each launch, my waist belt on my waders is snugged up all the time, the gaskets on my wind breaker are snugged up and/or I have a good wetsuit (5mm).  I was asked on my last trip to BH, don't I get hot? and yeah, I do but it was worth it considering you never know when you're going for a swim.

Gary

The age old adage in paddling is "dress for immersion". SOT paddling is really swimming with longer and longer periods of paddling as your skills increase. After a few swims and some long rescue exercises outside the SC harbor I have reached a compromise that works for me. Since I found a standard farmer john wetsuit too much for most of my water time, I use a pair of 3mm wetsuit pants, and use a type of river boot for my feet. For my upper body I use a synthetic t-shirt, then a mysterioso paddling sweater, then my paddle jacket. PFD always goes on last. This setup provides me with enough flexibility for the weather I run into here in SC.  I would not recommend waders of any sort in the ocean, but that's just me-I'm used to wetsuits. Note that my sweater & shirt are synthetic. These fabrics will help insulate even when wet, unlike cotton which will chill you down.
One thing that is often overlooked is a warm hat. If my feet are cold, I put on a wool cap instead of my sun hat.
-Sean

I'm just wondering why people feel it is safe to wear waders in the bay, but not in the ocean?

I wear waders in the bay and ocean and feel the biggest danger is hypothermia...which is pretty much just as likely to occur three miles out into the bay as it is in the ocean.

A little twist I do is to have a drytop over my chest waders in mid-winter cold water. http://www.extrasport.com/product/tech_wear/dry_tops/xpert_flex_plus.aspx
It cinches down really tight on the waist, cuffs, and neck so no water gets in. I went swimming a few times in the sound when I got it (on purpose ) and even when I tried to swim straight down to the bottom I didn't get any water in. Of course re-entry was a snap. It's pretty much a poor mans drysuit I guess. Wearing a wetsuit underneath is a total necessity in the open ocean though. Just have the waders and jacket for wind protection. I just feel that if you're in the open ocean you're going to have much longer to wait for a rescue given swell, chop, fog, waves etc.. That wetsuit could be the reason they find you conscious IMO.

Z

I agree, the bay is just as treacherous as the ocean.  Perhaps more so due to the currents involved.  If you fall off with the anchor out, you're going to be wet for quite a while.

A buddy of mine once got dunked with waders at bean hollow, he wasn't wearing a jacket at the time and he took on a couple gallons of water.  This made it difficult to climb out of the surf onto the rocks on the emergency landing we made.  He tore one leg on the rocks and it drained, then he used his knife to cut the other open to let the water out.

I completely consider the bay to be ocean, for exactly the reason Pspark mentioned.

  He tore one leg on the rocks and it drained, then he used his knife to cut the other open to let the water out.

Yikes!

I'm just wondering why people feel it is safe to wear waders in the bay, but not in the ocean?

I wear waders in the bay and ocean and feel the biggest danger is hypothermia...which is pretty much just as likely to occur three miles out into the bay as it is in the ocean.

There's an old rule of thumb: if  Water temp + Air temp is less than 120 degrees, you need immersion clothing. I personally pay more attention to the water temp than the sum of the two. In any case, a lot of times you could have ~60 degree water temps and ~70 degree air temps in places like Alameda or Oyster Point. So immersion clothing may not be really needed. This comes from a guy that wears a dry suit pretty religiously in the ocean.


Regards,
Scott

I don't fish the bay that often and when I do I am not 3 miles from shore, more like .3 miles. With my pfd, radio and GPS I am personally comfortable with backstroking to shore while some kind boater is hopefully coming to get me. When I hit San Pablo for sturgies it is a wetsuit for me though.

The age old adage in paddling is "dress for immersion".

 

Getting back to the waders, essentially waders are close to neutral as far as water immersion goes. If you fall in and they fill up they won't sink you. On the other hand it will  be hard to swim with them on so a life jacket will be plenty to take care of you.

As for the bay it is not the ocean, that's a fact. At times it is as cold as the ocean but other times it is 70 degrees. Generally, I would wear a wetsuit,  but if I was used to the water I wouldn't. I have a friend that used to swim to Angel Island when he was about twelve, he didn't have a wet suit a life jacket or an escort. I say use your head and if you aren't smart enough to figure it out, well one less dummy to worry about!