Realistic immersion gear advice (waders vs wetsuit vs drysuit)

All these videos are showing up in my YT feed now.
Sorry if this is posted in another thread, but it's something relevant to this particular thread.
Death Awaited in Cold Water Kayak Flip - Sickening to Watch
Death Awaited in Cold Water Kayak Flip - Sickening to Watch

Save some time an jump about 04:00: 

"25mph with 40mph gusts, 48 degree water temps, no pfd, no vhf. he's lucky to be alive because he was in the running for the darwin award"
Sheesh.
I'm a noob to the ocean still.  I'll probably stick to going with a buddy forever.

First time I went into the water wasn't while kayaking, but actually just stepping off my kayak onto a dock. As I stood up onto it I lost my balance and thought I could step back into my kayak, and just fell in basically. 

 It was January, water temps were so low as soon as I hit the water it felt like I was punched in the gut and I couldn't do anything but gasp for air and try and feebly try to recover some of my gear still floating near by.  I was dressed warm for being outside, but not for going into the water. I was only 10ft from shore but had to push myself to get out of the water.  I was then exhausted from what must have been less than a minute from the reaction to the cold water.  Like your whole body tenses up when it gets shocked with that much cold. 

Glad I was close to shore, but I never went in cold temps again without dressing for immersion, and still do.

First time I went into the water wasn't while kayaking, but actually just stepping off my kayak onto a dock. As I stood up onto it I lost my balance and thought I could step back into my kayak, and just fell in basically. 

 It was January, water temps were so low as soon as I hit the water it felt like I was punched in the gut and I couldn't do anything but gasp for air and try and feebly try to recover some of my gear still floating near by.  I was dressed warm for being outside, but not for going into the water. I was only 10ft from shore but had to push myself to get out of the water.  I was then exhausted from what must have been less than a minute from the reaction to the cold water.  Like your whole body tenses up when it gets shocked with that much cold. 

Glad I was close to shore, but I never went in cold temps again without dressing for immersion, and still do.

Thanks for sharing your experience Al.

Waay back in the day, when I was young, dumb, and... you know, full of ideas.  My friends and I got invited to stay with them at the Housekeeping Camp in Yosemite.  I think we had the perfect spot, at the end of the camp, right next to the river.  It's the middle of June, and snow is still melting into the Merced River.  My friend and I decided to jump off the bridge nearby at the camp.  We both jumped in at the same time.  We were just wearing swim trunks. I'd say my friend and I were in good health and shape at the time.  After we jumped in, surfaced, caught our breath, looked at each other, we looked back at the bridge and noticed how fast we were already down stream.  Very cold water.  Muscles were cramping up.  We swam to shore as fast as we could.  We weren't even in the water that long.  My friends helped us get up onto the bank, and brought us back to camp. I was skinny back then, and my friend was bigger than me with more mass.  They said I looked like a ghost when I got out of the water.  I needed help walking back to camp, which was close by.  I took off my trunks, changed into some clothes, and got into the sleeping bag, and they piled their sleeping bags on top of me.  I was shivering in the fetal position.  My friends parents checked up on me every so often.  I went to sleep and didn't wake up 'til dinner time.  Stories were shared, head shaking, facepalms, etc. Med evac helicopters were heard throughout the valley periodically while we were there. Everyday for the four days we were there. My friends thought that they'd have to come for me too.  This made me look up the different stages of Hypothermia. I definitely had moderate hypothermia.  My friend was able to shake off his mild hypothermia by getting into full clothing, getting warm, and walking around.  I definitely learned something. 
TL;DR: Young guy has no idea what jumping into a river being fed by snow meltoff will do to his body.  Luckily, gets out of water quickly and survives mild hypothermia. Learns lesson.

With all the helpful information in this thread, knowing how my body is now, my physical strength, what I've experienced, the comfort level I like, I'm going to go with a semi-dry suit.

Great story, ty for sharing it!

Just found this older thread by coincidence which is another tale of flipping in FW but due to a down-rigger snag: http://www.norcalkayakanglers.com/index.php?topic=94407.msg325474;topicseen#new

Great story, ty for sharing it!

Just found this older thread by coincidence which is another tale of flipping in FW but due to a down-rigger snag: http://www.norcalkayakanglers.com/index.php?topic=94407.msg325474;topicseen#new

Glad to share here!

That's one of my fears.  Snagging on something with the downrigger deployed.

Was there a thread for kayak fishing fail vidoes?  I can't recall   

This one's been pretty entertaining

 

 

 My advice is this: 4/3 NRS farmer John with zipper in the front, long sleeve hydro-skin shirt underneath. Paddle pants(without sewn in feet) and paddle jacket on top. Neoprene booties with full traction rubber-soles. Never wear cotton. Cotton kills.

The guy said he went in for a swim.
TL;DW,
Kayak fisherman narrates his outing, winds pick up to 20+ MPH, goes for a swim, gets rescued by Coast Guard.
No footage of going into water, or rescue...

Kinda meh story there, although it started out pretty good.  His lessons learned left a lot to be desired, although the caution about going in and out of high current areas is definetly good to be sharing.  He didn't mention anything about how he learned that he should do anything different the next time out.  Kept waiting for it...

This one I think is a pretty good example of an experienced kayaker making a small mistake that caused him to yard sale on the way back in. The launch was pretty intense but he nailed it, had a good day on the water, then wiped out. The lessons learned at the end of the video are good ones we all learn after making mistakes ourselfs.



Oh and the music is friggin classic  . Gonna have to steal that song for later. 

What a mess