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

Month: May 2012 (Page 2 of 4)

Immersion Research Klingon Empire Spraydeck – Initial Thoughts

Those of you who have followed the site for many years will know that I usually only ever use Playboater spraydecks. I have owned a few and they are always superb. Well today I tried my new Immersion Research Klingon Empire Spraydeck and have been simply blown away.

This is what IR say about the deck:

The Klingon Empire is the same skirt as the Klingon with one major difference- the front casing (the high wear area going over the front portion of the cockpit rim) is laminated with a high thread-count Kevlar™. This very costly strip of woven gold is simply the best possible fabric when it comes to flexible abrasion resistance, making it the perfect choice for people who are exceptionally hard on spray skirts.

The Klingon skirt, with it’s high-tension bungee and extra neoprene extending out past the bungee make it a perfect choice for keeping even the most difficult rims dry. Typical use would include high-end playboating and on creek boats where all other skirt designs seem to leak.

The Klingon Empire had been bought for my new Pyranha Jed as I wanted something with a dry lip and bungee. An order to IR in the States and a couple of weeks later it landed. The deck arrived early last week and despite opening it up it has sat unloved in corner of the dining room. Work has been getting in the way of fun out on the water. So today was my first chance to get the deck onto a boat and get it wet.

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The sun was out

Great afternoon at the Tees Barrage today. The adjustments to the course are starting to deliver some very promising features.

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Palm Spark Surface Immersion Suit – First Look

Rather than this being a review of the new Palm Spark Suit, this is more of a photographic first look. There has been lots of talk about the suit over the last few months but very little in the way of images. I have therefore decided to put that right. The suit shown is my new Palm Spark in large.

The Spark is a Surface Immersion Suit, it is not a dry suit as both the ankle seals are not latex (or socks) and are therefore not 100% water tight. However reports suggest that the performance of the seals is pretty good.

I picked up the Palm Spark from Northshore WaterSports today. Continue reading

Scotland Happened – Kayak Session Entry

I know this has been posted before but this great edit from some good friends of mine is now an entry for the Kayak Sessions short film award. Please watch and share (even if you have seen it before).

Teva Mountain Games

Some really nice mounting options for the GoPro cameras are shown in this GoPro promo.

Jed, Loki, demshitz Jared and Dave.. Eternity hole

Immersion Research Special K Spray Deck

For the past 15 years I have been exclusively using playboater spraydecks. However as I was buying a new Immersion Research (IR) Double D Drysuit I thought I’d take the opportunity of ordering an IR deck for my LL Stomper at the same time.

The model I chose was the Immersion Research Special K spray deck. This is IRs top of the line rand deck. The deck is a rand deck which means that rather than using thick bungee cord to seal the deck onto the boat the deck has a strip of rubber. In this case the rand has a couple of ridges/fins that help improve the seal. The first couple of times I used it I did need assistance with putting it on. A bit of time on the boat helped sort that out – I expect to do this with all well fitting decks.

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Rainchasers.com

Rainchasers is probably one of the best paddling resources in the UK, period. I visit the site every couple of days.

Visit the site.

Wasabi Power Battery for GoPro – Review

I have been trying out one of Wasabi’s GoPro batteries for the past few weeks. The standard GoPro battery is 3.7V and 1100mAh. The Wasabi battery is 3.7V and 1400mAh. So what does this actually mean, well in theory the Wasabi battery should last longer than the OEM GoPro battery!

This certainly seems to be the case. I have ran the camera using Video and time lapse over the past week using both the GoPro OEM battery and the Wasabi Power Battery. Repeatedly the Wasabi lasts a little bit longer than the GoPro.

The Wasabi Power Battery for GoPro costs way less than the GoPro OEM model. Every time I use my GoPro the SD card capacity has never been the limiting factor. The limiting factor has always been the battery life. I have therefore decided to order the Charger Kit which comes with two GoPro batteries.

The Tees, Tubes, Tears and Tissue Damage

Had a great day on the Tees with the boys trying out some tubes on dog leg. Waters levels were pretty good at 0.59 on the gauge. The day before the water had been very high.

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Smiley Nose Clips

The Smiley Nose clip as far as I am concerned is one of the best bits of kayaking kit available. It works so well and keeps on working year after year that you actually take it for granted.

I have one attached to each of my helmets (always on the right) and one on a neck lanyard for pool use.

Smiley Nose Clip

Smiley Nose Clips

Tees Barrage – Happy Eater 17th May 2012

Last night a merry band of paddlers spent a few hours at the Tees Barrage International White Water Course moving some blocks on the long course. After a few sessions making adjustments to the Rapid Blocks on the short course it was great to get the OK to take a look at the main part of the course.

We based ourselves at Happy Eater with the aim of creating a good all round play feature. We started by removing all of the blocks that had been in place pretty much since the course was back in action. Putting the water on full flow showed some interesting results. Continue reading

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