In preparation for our upcoming canoe trips I'll be posting a couple of articles on what I'm packing and why. I wrote a previous article on how I kit out my PFD for canoe touring, which serves as my most essential life support system should I be separated from the rest of my luggage during a remote trip. Building on that then, my next layer of planning is what I'd like to have should I take a swim in deep water to recoup once on dry land.

My ditch kit then focuses on the key risk should I get wet and cold, hypothermia, and works in conjunction with my PDF kit.

1. A foil blanket: not the most useful item on it's own and certainly isn't the miracle tool it's made out to be, but when used next to a fire can reflect heat and importantly hold warm air close to you. It can also be used in dire straits to construct a Mors Super Shelter! 
2. Chocolate: pick your favourite, it'll had a real morale boost when you need it plus a good bit of energy too. My only advice would be to pick ones packaged in plastic, a warm day or too close a proxy to a fire and you're ditch can end up all sticky!
3. A warm wool hat: We lose a good deal of heat through our head, especially with wet hair. 
4. Warm gloves: I prefer two pairs of thinner gloves over one thick pair for flexibility. It's also worth noting I'll dip into this kit at night when camping if I need some extra warm layers when the mercury drops.
5. A wool buff/scarf: As with your head, you can lose a great deal of heat from your neck due in part to the large arteries passing closely under the skin which carry warm blood to your head. You also have a chimney effect where warm air from your torso rises and escapes your clothing at the neck, an extra layer here is almost worth a whole jumper in heat retention in my experience.
6. A small stuff sack to keep item 1-5 tidy within the larger dry bag.
7. A thick woolen baselayer: I carry a 400g Woolpower pullover for this job. Woolpower use a type of loose knit for these garment which isn't very common, but is excellent at keeping warm air trapped close to your body. A note on the above: I choose wool for my primary baselayers because it performs excellently when wet or damp, considering I plan on using this stuff after a swim my skin may be damp when putting this stuff on.
8. A thick duvet jacket: The Keela Belay Jacket has become my absolute favourite cold weather jacket. The insulation is incredible warm, lightweight and lofting. It also packs down very small! See picture. I use this over the top of everything to keep me warm, the drawstrings at the neck and waist help to keep that all important warm air trapped.
9. A dryback for the ditch kit with a smaller one for my jacket. It's important to keep this kit dry for when it's needed.

I hope you find this article useful, I'd love to hear what you think in the comments below. If you'd like to go on a canoeing expedition check out our expeditions and our bushcraft courses too or drop me a message via the icon at the top of the page.

Links: