Paddling tips, tricks, news and gear reviews from an Unsponsored point of view
Over the last couple of months I have had lots on enquiries from smaller (than me) paddlers asking about the Wavesport 70. There is no way I could possibly shoe horn myself into a 70 and give any kind of sensible verdict. I put a few feelers out and Elaine Campbell answered the call and has compiled the following. Many Thanks.
I’ve been paddling the Wave Sport Recon 70 since September and couldn’t be happier with it’s performance. Prior to that I paddled the Diesel 70 as my creek boat for about 3 years, the Habitat for one year, and Huck for 2 years.
Yes, I do paddle for Wave Sport and of course I want you to purchase a Wave Sport boat but I also want you to buy a boat that you are going to be comfortable in. I’m just letting you know my opinion of the Wave Sport Recon 70. The best advice I have for you is to go to your local dealer or try a friends Recon or look me up and we can meet up and you can try mine. I have a Recon 70 and a Recon 83 that I’d be more than happy for you try and then you tell me how you like it. I’ll bet you will be super impressed with this boat and will more than likely go buy one. Believe me if I didn’t feel comfortable in this boat I’d still use my Diesel 70 as my creek boat but guess what I’m not! Continue reading
Jackson’s Star is designed for the smaller paddler and part of the Jackson All Star Series of kayaks.
From Jackson:
Our most popular playboat of all time still available to everyone!- Those who want to make their playboating game bigger, better, faster, and easier have been flocking to our highest performing and easiest paddling All-Star yet.
Short, fast, loose, and goes huge on loops, wave tricks. The Jackson 2010 Allstar dominated the Worlds as a boat that is legend in how it takes your playboating to the next level!
• Beginners enjoy the fastest learning curve of any up and coming playboaters. Your first spin, surf, loop, cartwheel or even Eskimo roll will be rewarded with an easier to perform boat.
• Intermediates really begin to set the All-Star loose with explosive pop in the wedged shape bow and stern, speedy hull, and easy to get off the water design.
• Experts have already earned the 1st-5th places in the last World Championships in Thun, Switzerland in the Men’s Pro class. Need we say more?
Specs:
Weight: 28 lbs
Length: 5’6″
Width: 24-1/4″
Height: 13″
Volume: 47 gallons
Cockpit Dimensions: 19″ x 32-1/2″
Ideal Weight Range: 90-160 lbs.
The boat has been used extensively as a river runner and park n play boat and it does well as both. The Star, despite being quite short tracks really well and I found it easy to attain eddies and move across the flow without a loss of speed or control. I do need to watch for the tail end getting caught in the tow back now and again but since moving the seat forward a little it is a rare occurrence.
The outfitting is simple yet effective and setting up the Star didn’t take very long with all the bits and bobs supplied. Adding shims to the hip pads is super easy and it only takes a short while to get everything just right. I use a Jackson Happy feet in the Star and it works well. I use the smallest Happy Feet available. I therefore feel really locked into the Star which allows me to transfer weight shifts directly into the boat. As a result I found that edging and rolling the boat was very easy. The Star provides a very stable platform from which moves can be launched. The Star spins incredibly well and feels stable when in the vertical position. I can even retain stern squirts down fairly week eddy lines. Over the years the Star design has been tweaked but I am still really happy with my Jackson Star.
I have paddled all over the world with my Star and have ran rivers all the way up to large volume grade IV which was a blast. For the smaller paddler I reckon that the Star is a great choice for all types of kayaking with the exception of creeking!
Reader: Nicky Ball
Location: Classified
Picture from the Scottish Canoe Association
Boats:
After a few years of paddling Pyranha Everests, which I still to this day regard as the best all round boat as it’s the Burn just with added Oooosh, I made the switch to Liquid logic as I find them more fun and quirky than alot of other brands, in other words they have soul. I now paddle a Jefe Grande for steeper stuff as it boofs huge and a Remix 79 which I love because it’s so fast and is really at home on bigger volume, it’s great for being an idiot too when all you want to do is rock splat, rock spin and boof your way down stream. I also have recently been given an old Inazone 242 which I plan on doing some surfing in and I also share a topo/spud with my misses which I paddle if I’m in a silly mood.
I had the GoPro Hero 3 Black Edition out again today. The weather was pretty challenging with bright sunshine, water and dark shadows. The one element that seems to have really freaked the white balance out is the colour of the Jackson Karma kayak I was paddling. I little bit of auto tuning as brought the images closer to actual conditions.
The new Jackson kayaks for 2013 all come equipped with GoPro mounts so it seemed rude not to. Micro SD card is a 64GB Sandisk. Image quality set at 12MP and spot metering was switched on. Images taken every second! Continue reading
After so many months of ownership I am now starting to get the hang of the Nikon D5100. I’m mainly using a 18-105mm lens which seems to cover just about all situations. I’m also starting to mess around with Aperture, which is an app for the Mac.
I now have a couple of the EN-EL14 batteries and use a 32GB Sandisk Extreme SD Card.
Here are a few images from today at the Tees Barrage (UK).
Name: Callum Strong
Location: Scotland
Boats
I don’t know if you guys have heard but I am a Zet UK team Paddler and have a hoody which says so in big letters so people in the bar know I’m the real deal without me having to tell them, although I do anyway. As such I paddle a Zet Raptor, a totally sick creek boat which I was paddling even before they got cool. I suppose I am somewhat of a “trendsetter” so listen up to the rest of my kitlist folks, this will read like a kayaking version of Vogue. I should point out that my Raptor is yellow, the best colour and also the second fastest. The fastest Zets are actually blue ones. I paddled a blue one over the summer whilst on an expedition in Siberia but unfortunately they don’t show up nearly as well in photographs, so yellow is the colour to go for.
The new Jackson Karma are beginning to find there way to kayak stores. North Shore Watersports have both a large in Fire & Ice (Red/Yellow/White) and a Medium in Limon (Green/Yellow).
I’ll have more on the Karma over the next couple of days. In the meantime here are a few images to check out. Continue reading
A clean spring edit from Joerg Waidelich on Vimeo.
The Gobi Gear Hoboroll is a double draw corded stuff sack. It is designed to help you organise and carry your gear.
Any stuff sack can do that, but the Hoboroll is slightly different from the normal stuff sack that you find in outdoor gear stores. The big thing that sets the Hoboroll apart from the others is that is is divided internally in to five sections. This allows you to organise your kit rather than just stuff it into the same area. The Hoboroll also has drawcords at each end allowing you access to your kit from both sides. Continue reading
Name: Mark Mulrain
Location: Glasgow, Scotland
Boats
Dragorossi 88 (big boat) – I wanted a boat that had the speed of a Zet Raptor and boofed a little easier like the Liquidlogic Stomper. The 88 seemed to do meet this criteria. I was blown away by how easily it punched water features and the speed it carried out from the bottom of a rapid. Continue reading
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