Originally Posted By: paramedicpete
Quote:
Actually, I'd disagree with this. Being in clothes that are drying WOULD be an issue. Why? Because evaporation is one way that heat is lost (along with convection, conduction, and radiation).


You would think, but my real world experiences have been otherwise. I have, on several occasions (classes and training) worn fleece in the water during some very cold weather. Upon leaving the water, the fleece drained excess water rapidly and kept me quite warm as they dried. I believe fleece, like wool has the ability to provide insulation even when wet.


Fleece fibers repels water. Wring it, give it a beating, flap it around - and it's almost completely dry.

Wool attracts water, but up to a point the water will be sucked into the fibers and stay there. The result: Semi-wet wool retains a large percentage of it's insulation value. Soaking wet wool is not really pleasant. (I've read a vivid description of someone's boy scout memories about standing in the rain with a itchy, heavy, soaking wet wool sweater that stretched all the way to his knees... ) Wring it, give it a good beating and flap it around - it still contains loads of water, but will keep you warm (but somewhat less warm than the dry equivalent).

The water that is contained within the hollow wool fibers will dry out very slowly, which means that heat loss due to evaporation is minimal.