I use the MEC paddling mitts when it's above 8 degrees but I have cut the palms out. They are great as even with the palms cut out if you make a fist hardly any water gets to your hands.
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I couldn't imagine wearing them with the closed palms though, they are so restrictive.
With the open palms you can also make a fist and exhale in to it to warm up your hands.
Another trick I use regardless of glove type is swinging my arms in a big circle one at a time to force blood flow in to my hands.
Below 8 degrees the NP Surf mitts do the trick for kiting. I can imagine WS puts a lot more stress on your grip as I don't think you guys use your harness half the time. I can say though if you can stand the MEC mitts with the palms left in then you'd be able to handle the NP Surf ones even better. For me kiting I get arm pump for the first 20 minutes but I just take it easy and stretch out one forearm at a time for 10-15 seconds several times and then after 20 minutes I'm good for 4 hours on the water.
With my NP Surf mitts on I can completely rig and de-rig which makes life a lot more enjoyable not having freezing fingers before/after the session.