You knew cotton was bad.....but how bad is it?

Cotton can retain 27 times it's weight when soaked in water.

So not only will you be wet but you also will be very heavy as all that extra weight could diminish the ability of your pfd and body's natural buoyancy to keep your head above the water and chop if you fall in.

In cold weather cotton fibers absorb body heat.

Not retain, not reflect back to you, but suck heat away from you & in the process lower your core temp.
This is true even if the cotton is dry but if you sweat at all it exacerbates the problem.

Polyester & nylon are hydrophobic = they don't soak up much water at all and dry quickly when wet.
They also insulate body heat better than cotton. Cotton & kayaking = recipe for discomfort.....or disaster.

 

Great tip! Synthetics are better in the wet and cold. I must have wrung my neo. and poly cycling gloves out at least 5 times the other day and put 'em back on! They warmed up pretty quick, better than leather or cotton for sure!

Cotton is definetly a killer. I have always been a fan of fleece, does not hold water an even when wet will keep you dry. I have several fleece suits that I use for hunting in rain an cold

I've also heard that you loose your body heat 25 times faster when wet, than dry.  So if you do get wet, you will need something that drys fast, and synthetic fibers are the way to go!  Wool from what I hear is the best insulator when wet, but I prefer the Fleece combo with a splash jacket or rain jacket to go along with my waders/wetsuit.

Polyester & nylon are hydrophobic = they don't soak up much water at all and dry quickly when wet.
They also insulate body heat better than cotton.

I am going to look for a sweet polyester suit like this for kayak fishing! 

that suit is bawesome. Vote for Pedro!

I'm a huge fan of the Mysterioso fabrics for paddling & xc skiing.

Wool works great for camping when you are around an open fire (credit to Les Stroud here) since it won't melt if sparks land on you.

yikkes!  i didn't know it was THAT bad!  i used to paddle in a cotton sweatshirt all the time.....even though i knew of the dangers, i kept saying to myself,"how am I gonna fall out?" 

thanks for getting some numbers&facts on that Jim!

I like my lycra and patogonias

Yep, Cotton kills.