The Cold As A Mind Game

So there finishes six weeks of the toughest kayaking I think we've ever done. It's hard to pin down why, the wind blows and either speeds you up or slows you down, concern about landing spots and all the other variables are much the same wherever you go. 

The biggest difference between here and anywhere else we've paddled is the cold. 

In Reykjavik now it's 14° and no exaggeration it feels steamy tropical warm, t shirts and sandals have been broken out from the few bits and pieces we left with Gisli at the start of our trip.

It was a rare occasional hour or two that it was warm or windless enough to paddle without pogies and sometimes on the grimmest of days we'd comment to each other "that would make a good picture" but neither of us was brave enough to take our hands out of their coziness to fiddle with life jacket pockets and camera. We were warm paddling and warm camping, the cold times were stopping for breaks during the day and packing and unpacking at the start and end of each day. Even then it was only a brief chill as we pulled on thermals, once zipped into our drysuits we very quickly warmed up. The chilly breaks during the day weren't the most comfortable but weren't that terribly often either and within 10mins of paddling off we were warm again. The same at the end of the day, there was only a short period of chilliness between getting out of our paddling gear and into dry clothes. More often than not our paddling gear dried overnight too.

The cold was more a mind game than physical hardship.

Every sea kayaker will know the phenomenon of suddenly feeling intimidated by the sea, particularly on wild days, when the sky clouds over and the sun disappears. Nothing much has changed but the lighting but suddenly rather than bowling along without a care in the world amongst the white caps on a glistening sea, it's dark and brooding, the waves seem twice the size and look as though they're planning to kill you.

So the mind game of telling yourself that everything's fine begins. 

Just as your mind is winning over that intimidating looking sea imagine the temperature dropping 10° or 15°.

Another mind game begins.

Occasionally I'd find myself hunched over trying to get out of the wind that was burning my cheeks despite having my hood buttoned up to my nose. 

Sit up straight! I'm warm and the cold and intimidating sea is not going to get to me.