Keep Your Cool, Man…
Don’t know about you, but I’ve fished a lot during the summer season and in places, like Mexico, where you can fry frijoles on the boat deck.
Even the east side of the Cascades can get toasty with summer temps often well above 100 degrees. There have been trips where we ran up Roosevelt just to feel a breeze, and there have been days on Banks Lake and the Potholes where finding shade was more important than finding fish.
Granted, when it is unbearably hot, it’s a better idea to pack it in and come back in the evening or at zero-dark the next morning.
However, I don’t fish in the heat for the fun of it; rather, I’m there likely because the bite is good, or I need pictures for an article or something needs to be tested. Or it can be like this past summer when it was the only time I got to fish in home waters.
While developing a portable, 12-volt air conditioner might be a million or two seller, I doubt that it would really work in an open boat.
The next best thing might be the series of Arctic RadWear products now on the market.
As I was writing this, my wife was in the throes of one of the worst kinds of migraine headaches with fever, swollen sinuses, and the whole routine. I suggested she might try the Cooling Head Shade rather than a wet washrag on her forehead, and the difference it made in her comfort level, not to mention beating back the migraine, was incredible. “You’ve got to recommend this!” she exclaimed. So I am.
Having tried them, I can say without doubt that the Arctic RadWear products are a great way to keep your cool. One of them, if not all, will always be in my gear bag during summer trips.
The RadWear gear consists of a headband, the head shade my wife now possesses, towel and wrap. You might look at each and think that you can get the same cooling benefits by dipping a bandanna or towel in a bucket of water, but that ain’t the case.
While the products look simple, they aren’t. Each has a pad or two of what the company calls “Advanced Arctic Technology” that accelerates the evaporation process.
I’m not really sure how the juju works, but it does. The pad soaks up water and releases it in such a way that the temperature of the pad and whatever it touches drops.
I don’t have a thermometer that will read the effects of the pad on skin, but the YouTube video (check out RadiansInc channel and scroll down toward the bottom) indicates that the cooling pad will cause your skin temperature to drop about 10 degrees.
The cooling effects of the pad will last somewhere between three and five hours depending upon variables such as humidity, ambient temperature and so on.
My experience is that the cooling pads do what they advertise. They are noticeably cool to the touch once they start working.
The first time I tried the head shade—it kind of looks like pirate headgear—I was unimpressed for the first five minutes or so.
I soaked the shade in water for the required time, wrung it out as directed and swirled it as noted in the video. Then I put it on, wrapping it so that the skull pad would touch the part of my head that is folically challenged. I also made sure the headband section was properly placed.
Like I said, for the first five minutes, I wasn’t impressed as the cooling of the head shade wasn’t much more than what I expected from say dipping my hat in the water.
But then the Advanced Arctic Technology thingummie kicked in big time. What was kind of cool turned into almost cold.
To say that it offers relief is an understatement; the head shade really makes a difference when the weather is brutal. The other products have their times when they work as well. About the only other product that I wish Radians made was wristbands. I think applying the co
oling pads to the blood vessels in the wrist would really help one keep his cool. For more information, go to: www.radians.com.