Will I Be Too Hot?

Good Morning,

I got a great deal on a Palm Sidewinder Torrent drysuit, but it's pretty heavy and it seems more like a winter suit. Used by UK yakkers in whitewater. I'm planning to take it out on the coast in a few days, so I was wondering if I'd be able to stay cool if I wear that in 70 degrees. I plan to dip my feet, but any other advice?

That'll be great for the ocean.
The water temperature is 53F nearshore.  Air temp is anywhere from 55-70F.  You might get warm with exertion, but in my opinion it's much easier to cool down (dress in wicking underlayers or slow your pace of exertion) compared to risking exposure to frigid water, shock and possibly hypothermia in a worst case scenario.

Where did you buy the suit?

Dangling your feet helps, and you can always pour or splash water on the suit to cool down, too, should you start to feel too warm.  I wear a wide-brimmed hat, and on hot, sunny days it helps a lot when I wet that down and put in back on.

That is so helpful. I'll test those strategies when I'm out.

I scored the suit on Craigslist. Can't tell you how glad I am to have something with a relief zipper, but I was a little concerned with the rear entry because once I'm in I'm in until I'm not in.

It's not all that easy to get out of a Kokatat, so you might have an easier time of it with a longer, rear zipper.  Nice score on the suit!

The primary disadvantage of rear entry dry suits (i.e. dry suits in which the zipper runs from shoulder to shoulder across your back) is that most people can't open and close the zipper themselves.  They need to have somebody else open and close the zipper.  Experiment with various techniques and equipment such as (a) attaching a length of cord to the zipper pull, (b) clipping the zipper pull to something around shoulder level such as your roof rack, or (c) attaching a two foot long stick to the zipper pull, to see if you can use them to open and close the zipper by yourself.  Lubricate the zipper with wax lubricant before trying these techniques, so the zipper will slide more easily.

If I get hot when wearing a drysuit, I splash water on my body, arms, and legs, and dip my hat in the water.  Or you can slide over the side of your kayak into the water, and practice climbing back into your kayak, which is a good thing to practice.  If you aren't confident of your self-rescue skills, don't go into the water unless you are with another kayaker who can help you back into your kayak, or you are close enough to shore to swim your kayak into shore.

If the water is clean, hat dips help too. It got pretty warm last Sunday at PC and I found myself hat dipping every 10 minutes or so. Incredibly refreshing!