Paddling tips, tricks, news and gear reviews from an Unsponsored point of view
Way back last year I was lucky enough to be the first in the UK to paddle the New Wavesport Recon 83. I fell in love with the boat instantly as it reminded me how FUN paddling can be.
Soon after I ordered a Recon 93. I reckon I could happily paddle either the 93 or 83, but due to my size a little extra volume may be in order. The chosen colour – Cherry Bomb, which as it turns out was a great choice.
My new Wavesport Recon 93 landed today.
My new Cotic Soul is almost complete. The chain needs to be shortened by a couple of links and I need to stick my other wheelset on.
For the sake of completeness I also weighed it – 28lbs.
My new green Cotic Soul frame has almost been built up. Just the front mech to be tweaked and it is ready to roll.
Here are a couple of images to show off this awesome colour.
Over the last couple years UK based Pyranha have brought out a number of top class high performing boats including the Shiva creeker and Jed playboat. There has been a great deal of interest in the new Nano since the first images started to emerge late last year.
From Pyranha:
The Nano is a short creek boat with a playful nature, it has influences from Shiva, Jed and Burn make for a super maneuverable, compact creeker with the ability to run harder lines as well as open up play potential.
Aspiring creekers will find the Nano stable, easy to roll and playful enough to enjoy river features.
Experienced boaters will get big fun in a small package
Having a good kit bag is pretty important to me. It keeps my wet and often dirty kit safe and secure and helps prevent kit (or the inside of my car) being damaged.
A while back I bought an NRS Bills bag, which is an awesome bit of kit. Absolutley cavernous and very well put together. However if out for a quick paddle it is probably too big.
For a number of years I have used a hydration system rather than a water bottle for both hiking and mountain biking. It could be anything from a simple water bottle with a tube to a backpack bladder system like those made by camelbak, nalgene and many other manufacturers.
Recently I have also started to use a hydration system carried within my PFD for flat water paddling sessions. Many of the newer designs of PFDs have this capability with dedicated pouches for a hydration bladder system.
My personal preference is the system made by Nalgene. Nalgene make this system under their own name and also supply Dakine and Osprey.
A few shots of the new Pyranha Nano. Initial thoughts on how it paddles coming soon.
Check out my review of the Pyranha Nano.
I remember some years back that quite of lot of paddlers were wearing large PFD’s with multiple pockets for this and that, back pockets for 30m throw bags and more straps/buckles than you could shake a stick at. One of the must have add on features for any self respecting river runner would be a large knife fastened (usually to the shoulder) on the PFD.
If you carry out quick search on most kayak forums for topics around knives for river use and you will also find topics turning into heated debates about where to wear the knife, entrapment/entanglement issues etc etc….. The rule however is very simple – if you carry a rope/sling you should also be carrying a knife.
Personally I prefer the PFD to be as clean and as uncluttered as possible. This really comes from years of WW rafting and having to climb back into a raft after a flip. The more cluttered the PFD the harder it was to climb back in.
I currently have two PFDs 1) Astral 200 and 2) Palm Extrem RV. So I need a knife that is compact, super sharp, very reliable and can be swapped between the PFDs easily. I am a big fan of Spyderco knives and have started to acrrue quite a collection, so I turned to Spyderco to source my river knife. I have for the moment settled on the Spyderco Delica 4.
I thought I’d do a quick round up of how my main kit is holding up.
The Palm Spark suit has now become my go to piece of kit and my Immersion Research Double D drysuit now has a new home. I absolutely love the zip position on the Spark and can open and close the zip without anyone else’s assistance which is a great plus. My Spark doesn’t have any built in socks so I tend to wear a pair of Sandiline socks which have been a great purchase. If I can manage without the suit for a few days I will send it back to Palm to have some socks retro fitted. You can read my views on the Palm Spark in ThePaddler. Continue reading
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