I'm going to start my mudding season soon, making this my second season! I have some questions though as an amateur mudder, and what better place to ask than here, right? All of my questions apply to tidal mud, by the way.
1) What is the best way to wash up? This was the part that I had the most trouble with last year when I was going more often and getting more comfortable with it. It'd take me quite a while, and quite a bit of effort to get the mud off of my skin. The tidal mud I go to is pretty sticky, and has a thick, clay-like consistancy. This is my main question. 2) What is the best way to keep bugs away? Is bug spray effective in mud? 3) Are there any safety habits I should practice? I always keep my paddleboard within arms reach just in case, and my phone is in a bag on my board.
There are several approaches to this and to an extent it can depend on whether you have access to fully private showering facilities, as opposed to living with housemates / parents, and also how secluded your parking area for the mud is. But we shoot in tidal mud, though ours is mostly creamy, and have used various techniques over the years.
These days we mostly wash the girls off with huge water-cooler bottles of hot water we carry with us, we have 4 x 18 litre and 10 x 5 litre bottles which we fill with hot water before heading out, enough for 5 shoots with one person or at least 3 with two people.
One time we booked a daytime hotel room near the mud, and for that we didn't bother with cleanup at all. The girls would come out of the mud and strip to the swimwear they had on as underwear, then pull on waterproofs, in a specific order - jacket first, with hood up to contain their muddy hair, then trousers with the jacket tucked inside, so any muddy water would flow down inside the outfit, then wellies, with the waterproof trouser tucked into them - the whole idea being that any flowing mud / water on them would be kept inside the suit and boots. We then drove them straight to the hotel where they went to their room still in the full outfit, wore it right into the shower, started the water going and then stripped off the waterproofs in the shower. This meant no mess in the van, all contained in their suits, and they washed themselves and the suits and boots in the shower (stripping off their muddy swimwear along with the waterproofs), and then because thee suits were clean, if wet, we could repeat the process for a second and third shoot.
The trick is, as long as you have private full wash facilities available, you don't have to get all the mud off at the location, get the worst off in the nearest lake / river / stream, but then put on a "travelling back" outfit that is planned to contain any remaining mud inside, till you get to a full shower, and then change back into a fully "civilian" outfit.
With cleanup- get yourself one of those mesh loofa/shower scrubber; they're very efficient at lifting mud/gunge/etc from skin/clothes/equipment etc...
With safety you already sound pretty good; keeping a suitable float in reach and a means to call rescue attached to it. I'll also state the obvious for anyone else finding this thread looking for advice; check the tide times, and check the weather forecast.
Tides are obvious; please don't gamble your life or the lives of our rescue teams.
With weather; AccuWeather is quite good since it'll count down how long until the next rainfall in your exact location. If you're UK based; the Met Office rainfall radar, scroll back to observations and zoom out to see most of the UK. Then scroll forward and you'll see where the rain is really going to hit. Very useful for tracking summer storms and localised weather. (BBC weather and Met forecast are kinda good- but don't update with changing conditions).
The other three safety tips; 1) Be aware of sharp rocks/debris hidden in the mud. 2) Take a quick look over the history of the area- you're looking for mining and heavy industry, which may have spread metals/chemical contamination into the area. 3) Check for any recent raw sewage discharge in the area- there's a website/app for surfing that'll cover all the coastal stuff.
Love you, too
