After the past week and a half of cold, windy, wet weather here in Lunenburg, I have nearly mastered the art of staying dry and warm in wintery Nova Scotia storms. Starting with layers of clothes, at least three and sometimes as much as seven when it's at its worst. The long johns are a must for warmth and foul weather gear is absolutely necessary for any possible hope of staying dry. In between one pair of work pants with sufficient pockets for all the little stuff and numerous shirts, sweatshirts and sweaters...however many layers it takes to stay warm.
With multiple layers it's possible to adjust for the possibility of warmer temperatures - which do happen occassionally, and for going indoors. It's become a real treat for us when we can peel down to just two layers, and yesterday afternoon I even saw some of the crew walking around in T-shirts!! Yesterday was also the first day in a long while that I did not wear my long johns. It feels downright balmy after this recent winter storm.
At night I just remove the top two or three layers, maybe four if it's been particularly cold, and lay these clothes on top of my blanket for an extra layer of warmth while I sleep. We did get an electric heater plugged into shore power several days ago, so it hasn't been quite so chilly in the Salon as it was earlier. I do keep my wool socks on day and night, changing them at least twice per day just to keep my feet dry and warm.
Foul weather gear includes not only jacket, but also pants, boots and sou'wester - that's the rain hat that is designed to keep the rain from getting in your eyes and running down the back of your neck. And it does work wonderfully well. We've come to call this outfit "foulies" rather than saying the longer "foul weather gear" phrase. As for staying dry, my foulies work just great with one exception that I discovered just two days ago. We were doing sail training drills, setting and striking the Fore Topmast Staysail, with extremely wet (saturated) lines after a week of incessant rains. Everytime I reached up overhead to haul on a line, the wetness from the line ran down my arms to my elbows. The cuffs of all five shirts and sweaters that I was wearing at the time became saturated.
This morning the weather is clear and relatively warm, so I am hopeful of leaving the warmer clothing in my bunk. And in just a few days we'll be in a tropical climate where we won't even consider how to stay warm; rather we'll be wanting to cool off!! We've been talking about that for several weeks...at last, I believe it is true.
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