how do you keep your hands warm?

[edt]

it's 50 water / 40 air F here in MI now that fall is here (uh I think that's 10 / 4 in C). How do you keep your hands warm? I go until my hands feel numb, and then I have to let go of the bar. I can just let my kite go into the water, and let go of the bar and bob there for a while, and just not having the bar pressure puts some feeling back, so I have to assume it's the bar that keeps cutting off my circulation. Would huge 7mm mittens help or are do they wear out your hands too fast because it makes the bar impossible to grip. Or do you just have to take a rest every hour? Thanks.

[TheJoe]

All I did to keep my hands warm was move to Texas. For some reason I don't have the same problem with getting as cold now. So what if we don't four seasons. I really hate the cold.

[cape kiter]

I kite all winter in Massachusetts and these are hands down the best gloves I have found yet.They are 3mm but lined on the inside to help block the wind.The coldest I go out in these days is upper 30's F.even if I get an hour on the water mid winter thats good for me.

http://www.oceanrodeo.com/drysuits/gloves

[Kosh]

Dakine cold water mitten!

[Starsky]

The Ocean Rodeo coldfire gloves and boots are incredibly good. Designed by kiteboarder for kiteboarding. I'd way rather their gloves than a pair of mits. I only ever wear em when I'm in their Pyro pro drysuit and with their neoprene beanie its ridable in winter if you can find open water..... Canada.

Being toasty in a drysuit allows me to ride without boots or gloves way longer into the cold season than people in less toasty clothes. Thats probably my favorite thing about the drysuit. Molten blood keeps the extremities happy.

Only go to the gloves once the air temp is down below 6 deg C, and again a couple sessions in the spring when the water is still ice cold. Really well designed, as is their entire cold water line up.

[ronnie]

My method is to keep the rest of my body warm, with a good wetsuit, boots and hood.

If your core gets cold, your body will restrict the flow of blood to extremities, so by keeping the rest of it warm, your body will send blood to your hands to help lose heat.

I find you have to work hard below 8 centigrade ambient, to avoid bare hands getting painful.

I have always found gloves to be strength sapping, but its time I tried some of the latest ones.

[scklandl]

Get the thinnest, most windproofed gloves you can.

thicker gloves make the weak hand muscles work too hard having to constantly flex thereby cutting off circulation.

also keeping both hands on the bar does a number on you too, so dont be over or underpowered. use the stopper ball and let one hand hang while doing your longer beats to allow the muscles to relax and blood to return.

I also find that riding for ten minutes then stopping and letting both hands rest causes a flushing that keeps the hands warm for a long period of time,

[frankm1960]

Dakine cold water mitten!

Those are great. I use the NP mitt which is pretty much the same thing except no strap. Used them for windsurfing cold weather for years. I see NP has discontinued it and changed to split finger and open palm mitt which is a bummer. Glad I bought an extra pair few years back

I use a regular heavy snowboard mitts for snow kiting and those work great as well, no cold hands and no fatigue either, use the same kites year round. There's just not as much forearm fatigue when kiting so it should be easy to find something that will keep your hands warm.

[edt]

I use a regular heavy snowboard mitt in the winter and those work great as well, no cold hands and no fatigue either, use the same kites year round. There's just not as much forearm fatigue when kiting so it should be easy to find something that will keep your hands warm.

wait dont those lose their warmth when they get wet?

[Carlos_C]

I've got Raynauds - so it is very important to protect my hands in winter.

When it's really cold - fine layer - latex or vinyl gloves - followed by neoprene and then rubber washing up gloves on the outside - use duct tape to hold in place. The main aim is to stop the water flushing through the gloves. I still get cold hands - but not too the point that I'm almost reduced to tears when the blood starts flowing.