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

Tag: layering

Student Kayaker Buyers Guide 2017

Although this buyers guide is directed at students in reality it will apply to anyone thinking about taking up the sport. Over the next few weeks many students will be starting Uni and will be looking at joining a club. In most cases the Kayak/Canoe club in a university will be the best club to join. That can pretty much be guaranteed.

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Palm Equipment Arun Baselayer – First Look

Palm Equipment’s new Arun Baselayer arrived at Unsponsored HQ this week.

The Arun is part of Palm’s new 3 layer system and is available for both men and women. Both retail at £29.95.

From Palm:

Core 1 baselayers use Channel Flow technology to rapidly draw water away from your skin‚ helping to keep you dry‚ warm‚ and comfortable. Made from soft‚ supple polyester‚ with ActiveSeam stitching‚ the Arun moves and stretches as you do‚ for a new level of layering comfort.

Arun-Baselayer

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Winter Time

The last few days here in the North East (UK) have been pretty cold. A couple of mornings have even included getting rid of some pretty thick ice from the car windscreen.

Keeping dry and warm becomes really important as it gets colder.  Part of this is making sure the gear I am using does its job well.

This includes making sure that by boat has no leaks and that my deck is up to the job.

Winter Time
Winter Time

My winter paddling gear is as follows – PFD, helmet, boots/shoes and spraydeck don’t real change through the seasons, although if it is really cold I might wear a Playboater Titanium Earwig. The Earwig helps take the edge off that sensation you get when your head hits cold water.

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Palm Equipment – Core Layering

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New layering kit from UK based Palm Equipment. Continue reading

It’s Cold

The frosty mornings are definitely here and keeping warm whilst on the water is the key. Therefore I thought I’d do a quick run down of the kit I would typically wear to keep warm whilst on the river. The key to keeping warm is to use layers of clothing and to keep as dry as possible.

Palm_Unsponsored_1

My winter paddling gear is as follows –

PFD, helmet, boots/shoes and spraydeck don’t real change through the seasons, although if it is really cold I might wear a Playboater Titanium Earwig. The Earwig helps take the edge off that sensation you get when your head hits cold water.

My dry kit does change, as I tend to move away from using Dry Tops/Shorts to full suits.

To keep me dry I like to wear a dry suit. I have owned the Palm Spark Surface Immersion Suit and Immersion Research Double D Drysuit in the past and now use a Sweet Protection Intergalactic Dry Suit. Continue reading

Palm Equipment Seti Top & Wairoa Pants

Our NEW Seti top & Wairoa pants! from James Bebbington on Vimeo.

NEW for 2014 is the core 3 top – the Set and thir perfect companion the Wairoa 3/4 length pants. Looks like a dream combo for freestyle.

Check out Seppi’s overview!

Insulation

Staying both warm and dry makes any kayaking adventure that much more pleasant. I’ve been kayaking for over 25 years now and am amazed how much the kit has moved on during that time. Way back then getting soaked to the bone was pretty much a standard feature of paddling even if you didn’t swim. Even though staying dry is much easier and therefore makes keeping warm itself so much easier it’s important to get your insulation layers right.

I tend not to feel the cold as most folk but I still pick my insulation layers really carefully to make sure that I not only stay nice and warm but that I do not over heat. I personally find overheating way worse than being too cold.

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