How to protect hands in cold water when winging

[juandesooka]

Cold fingers sux. It is a pretty significant detriment to winging for about 2 months a year where we are.
I could suffer through it with ozones with the bagged out canvas strap handles...but my OR wing with the thick eva foam, I cannot hold them when it gets cold...like not physically possible. Last year I thought about tying on some canvas strapping below the handle, can hang off those when the grip becomes impossible.
Agree that thinner is better, the 5mm you lose so much circulation and grip issues, they don't really help. My go to has been dishwashing gloves with thin neoprene diving gloves over top. Or 3mm wetsuit gloves.
Finally, an accidental discovery that actually works...you go out in cold conditions, your fingers immediately get numb cold, you come back to the beach after 5 mins or so....walk around for a few minutes, get the hammer fingers, the screaming ya ya's where it feels like someone hit your fingers with a hammer....then after about 5mins they will feel warm and from there you get an hour or more of comfortable winging. I have heard this is cold weather military training. A buddy said this is really bad for your fingers, arthritis maybe (?), but it does work.

[Dirk]

As written before, the windsurfers have had this problem for a long time as the boom has a thicker diameter than a kite bar. Here is a windsurfers hack. In German, so you have to run it through a translator. Rubber kitchen gloves plus MTB gloves underneath for warmth: https://www.dailydose.de/story-surfhand ... he%20&pg=1

[Breze]

@ juandesooka
This is called the Hunting (Lewis) reaction https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunting_reaction

Possible side effects: Have a look at "Non-freezing cold injury" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frostbite ... old_injury

[Herman]

Personally, in the main, I just use marigolds. For a while one of the “everything for a £” outlets supplied a marigold equivalent which were black outside and orange inside. These functioned just as well but we’re a little more fragile but I preferred this to bright yellow. Can’t seem to find them anymore and unfortunately I did not bother to note the manufacturer; anybody know what these were or know where they can be obtained???

I don’t really have to push the limits around here but I am a fan of having a flask of warm water to pour a little in the gloves and any other orifice that is going to give a little moral boost. I also try to protect my circulation by avoiding tight wetsuit arms and making sure rash vests are smooth and not rucked up in donning. I also use centrifugal force to encourage blood into the hands by plenty free hand lowering and flicking, before they get too cold. I can usually avoid going through the hunting cycle this way but I normally wimp out as far as water goes at <6 or 7°C. Ask a Canadian about gloves!

PS Stay as warm as possible before you go out, don’t wonder around the beach losing core heat, rig in a good coat etc. Obvious but surprisingly important imho!!

[juandesooka]

Tbh...I now have to be pretty desperate to bother below 5c....just too painful

But back in the frenzy stoked days,we'd attempt to kite sub zero. I started into an experiment...2 rubber tunebs run through wetsuit into gloves, exiting at neck. You can blow some warm breath into gloves. Worked in tests. But would it actually help? Dunno...never tried it on the water. Someone try and post it up:-)

[davesails7]

What was working for me back then were neoprene mittens with open palms. That means that the grip on the boom/handles is mostly unaffected, and the only purpose of the glove is to protect the fingers from the wind chill, which is typically the main factor.
Looks like Prolimit and Ion are producing some.

I love open palm mitts but find they don't keep you as when warm using wings with strap handles. The kite bar or boom mostly covers up the palm opening, but the strap handles leave the palm wide open. Going to try these other ideas of thin gloves under the open mitts.

[evan]

I love open palm mitts but find they don't keep you as when warm using wings with strap handles. The kite bar or boom mostly covers up the palm opening, but the strap handles leave the palm wide open. Going to try these other ideas of thin gloves under the open mitts.

Buy closed palm and cut away just where the handle sits to get a custom open palm one!

But still, if your core cools down you can put on as much hand protection as you want. They will get cold as your body pulls away all the blood to keep your vital organs warm. So when experiencing cold hands first try to make sure your core is close to overheating while active to maintain blood flow in your fingers.

[Eltreato]

Don't use gloves, get your core, head, arms and feet as warm as possible while constantly being active too keep your muscles producing heat. If your hands and face are the only places to vent the excess heat they won't get cold. This works up to 6deg C.

Don't sit idle outside and preferably change your wetsuit under the shower if you have the option to drive home in your wetsuit while warming up in the car.

You're talking about six degrees, the OP is interested in protecting their hands in cold weather.

[airic]

I bought this product and I will try it very soon, the cold water is arriving in canada .

[flying grandpa]

In late autum and winter I use below tips to protect me from cold:
Usually you have enough fuel in your body (fat and carbohydrates).
What is lacking, its oxygen.
Changing into deep, abdominal breathing increases the lungs area and promotes more intensive O2 absorption and CO2 release.
This way you will deliver more oxygen to your cells, so they can burn carbs or fats to increase your local temperature if needed.
Risk of hyperentilation is very low, as those cells will produce enough CO2 to keep its level high enough. Additionaly, kitesurfing intensifies your muscle movments and that also produces enough CO2 to protect you from hyperventilation effects.

Stay safe
Tadeusz