Paddling tips, tricks, news and gear reviews from an Unsponsored point of view

Tag: Equipment

Yak Equipment – Riwaka, Chinook, and Hallertau

Yak are the kayaking/canoeing side of the Crewsaver company. In the past Yak have catered for the middle to lower end of the market with some fantastic hardwearing kit for centre and club use. Although functional and hardwearing they didn’t have the same appeal as some of the more well known brands. Over the last few months I have been testing a few pieces of Yak gear including the Riwaka dry top, Chinook dry trousers and Hallertau PFD.

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Some of the colours used will put some off, there is no denying that the GREEN of the dry tops and PFD takes a little bit of getting used to.

Yak Riwaka Dry Top

The Yak Riwaka in a very loud GREEN has arrived at Unsponsored HQ. Now this is the third bit of gear from Yak that has landed here the HQ in as many weeks and once again Yak have made a really good impression (I need to find out who is designing this stuff!) – here’s why.

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Reader’s Ride 2015 – Nick Pearce

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Name: Nick Pearce

Location: I split my time between Somerset and Voss, Norway

I have been paddling for the last 11 years and during that time, I have been lucky enough to paddle in some of the coolest locations around the world from the UK to Chile, France, India and New Zealand. My personal favorite and the place that constantly draws me back is Norway. It’s a land full of amazing rivers with still so much undiscovered potential. For the last 5 years I have spent my life working as a raft guide which allowed me to be closer to the river and to get as much boating in as possible. I also have the pleasure of being supported by some of the best companies on the market: Zet UK, AS watersports, System X and Silverstick.

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Reader’s Rides 2014 – Dave Brown

Name: Dave Brown (aka Redneck Dave, Full Face Dave, Small Head)

Dave Brown

Location: Barrow or North Wales

Boat: Currently an XL Burn Mk3 in the sickest colours you’ve ever seen – Rasta

Dave Brown

I really like the way the rails allow you to carve hard without stalling and tripping you up unlike the old burn, making it easy to fine tune lines and snap into eddies. It has quite a flat hull which allows it to surf easily, staying high on features and keeping you in control as you move laterally across the flow which is really cool. It has the Connect 2014 outfitting it comes with which allows the seat to be varied in both height and pitch. I have this set in the highest position, with the largest block installed under the front of the seat to really lock me in which works well, even though I’m the bottom end of the weight range. Seeing as I have the attention span of a gnat, I’m considering swapping out for a 9R to get some speed in my life.

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Yak Chinook Dry Pants – First Look

Yak are the kayaking/canoeing side of the Crewsaver company. In the past Yak have catered for the middle to lower end of the market with some fantastic hardwearing kit for centre and club use. Although functional and hardwearing they didn’t have the same appeal as some of the more well known brands. However I think that this is about to change. Having seen quite a lot of the new Yak range over the last couple of weeks I can safely say that I think they have come up with some great looking designs that appear to be very well thought out.

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