Cold Water Workshop, Saturday March 8th 2014 at the Small Boat Shop

Sorry for the short notice, just found out this week myself. This Saturday, March 8th, from 10:30 am to 3 pm,  the Small Boat Shop will be holding their annual Cold Water Safety Workshop at their shop in the Rex Marina, 144 Water Street, Norwalk, CT. Free, no reservations required!

If you're looking forward to Spring boating, and you're not already familiar with the significant hazards posed by cold water (including understanding that the sneaky thing about Spring boating is that the water stays dangerously cold LONG after the air has gotten invitingly warm), this would be an excellent workshop to attend.

We'll hopefully start seeing some warmer temperatures soon but the water got VERY cold this year and it will stay that way for a while. Spring is a fine time to be on the water if you take the proper precautions - a workshop like this is a great way to learn what you need to know.

The workshop will be broken into 2 sections; the "classroom portion" will be in the morning; they generally have represesentatives from the Coast Guard Auxiliary Norwalk and the Connecticut DEP boating division (Mark Chanski, who's participated in the excellent Cold Water Boot Camp video series and has some great first-hand stories), and TQ's going up to do a clothing talk.

After the morning discussions and videos, there's a short lunch break, then it's time for anyone who wants to to suit up and jump in the icy icy Norwalk River. This is why the SBS's workshop is my particular favorite - there are several shops in the tri-state area who do workshops in the Fall to get people ready for the winter, and they all do a good job, but this one's the only one where you put on the cold water gear and test it out in the conditions it's designed for. It is quite an experience!

This was the iciest I've been to so far, 2011. Photo by Ric Klinger, more from that day at the end. Great fun, but have to say it was nice to have hot showers and a warm shop just yards away!

We've participated in several of these (TQ lots more than me) and I always enjoy them. I can't make it this time due to a prior commitment to bloggers, photographers, and beer, but I did want to at least spread the word.

For more info on the Small Boat Shop, visit thesmallboatshop.com - just note that the Cold Water Workshop info there is old, left over from their originally planned date of February 15th, which had to be rescheduled due to one of the winter's numerous snowstorms.

The rest of Ric's pics from 2011.