Below is a series of images courtesy of Nick Wright showing the repair of a set of VE paddles.
Category: Gear (Page 91 of 135)
In for review this week, the new Petzl Tikka R+.
A compact, powerful and rechargeable headlamp with REACTIVE LIGHTING technology for performance.
REACTIVE LIGHTING technology now maximizes the performance of the TIKKA, the standard in compact headlamps. Light output adapts instantly to the environment and is optimized to guarantee the chosen burn time.
The mixed beam gives the advantage of lighting adapted to close-range vision and to moving around (from 7 to 170 lumens, from 2 to 65 meters). The rechargeable Lithium-Ion battery with USB connection is suitable for frequent use.
Welding kayaks isn’t that difficult once you get your eye in. However any boats made from cross linked plastic have additional issues as the the temperature difference between welding and blowing the plastic apart is a very narrow margin.
Quite often even the best welded repair will have some level of weakness and could fail. Some paddlers add wire mesh to strengthen the repair and I myself have found this to be very successful and almost bombproof depending on the location of the weld.
However there is an alternative that I have seen on a number of boats over the last few months. It looks rather industrial but seems to work really well. Below is a series of images from Nick Wright who used this alternative approach to repair a Jackson Kayak play boat.
Made by CRKT and designed by knife maker Russ Kommer the Bear Claw is a rescue knife like no other.
Specs –
Full tang taper ground AUS 6M stainless steel blade with a fine bead blast finish.
Finger hole and friction grooves located on blade spine, choil and near tip for maximum blade control and safety.
The handle is contoured black Zytel.
Includes a injection molded black Zytel sheath that has seven lanyard holes and belting slots with lanyard and black stainless steel Teflon plated pocket clip.
AUS 6M stainless steel blade hardened to 55-57HRC, Blade length: 2″.
I picked up one of these knives from a climbing shop in Hailey, Idaho. I had been after a decent knife for kayaking for some time and was probably going to pick up a Gerber on my return to the UK. However after checking the Bear Claw out for a few minutes I decided it was going to be a better choice.
The Palm Spark Surface Immersion suit has been awarded Canoe & Kayak UK product of the year for 2012. I picked up a Spark from North Shore Watersports shortly after it was launched in early 2012.
Over the course of the last 18 months the Palm Spark Surface Immersion Suit has been worn a fair bit. I’ve worn it during WWSR courses, kayaking, canoeing, ww rafting and bell boating, so it has had a really good test. The only time I haven’t used it has been during the times I have been testing other drysuits or when it has been too warm.
I’ve been using Smiley nose plugs for longer than I care to remember and have never moved away from them. I am a firm believer in the use of nose plugs and each of my helmets has (had) a Smiley nose plug attached and they have served me well. However that may have just changed with the arrival of these new nose plugs from Three Waves.
A couple of weeks ago I was kindly sent a pair of ThreeWaves nose clips from Germany.
My review of the Zet Director will be in the next edition of the paddler (available tomorrow).
Meanwhile why not take a look at the October edition @ http://joom.ag/m2SX or if bandwidth’s an issue – lo-res version @ http://joom.ag/dOuX
As with most sports you can start off really cheap and work your way up as you get more into it. Clubs tend to have a good supply of safety kit, wetsuits, paddles and boats. However having some of your own personal kit is a great idea as somethings are better not shared!
Keeping warm is often difficult when you paddle whitewater during the winter. The one area that is always difficult to keep one and can often lead to a great deal of pain is cold hands. Cold hands can turn a good trip into an absolutely terrible one and can leave you with damage to your hands if it occurs time and time again.
Making sure the rest of me is nice and warm does help but quite often the after the initial 30 mins on the water with super cold hands I get a surge of heat in conjunction with a super amount of pain as my hands begin to warm up. The pain is pretty unique!
I’ve tried neoprene gloves (which work once warmed up), the woollen/washing up glove combo and various other bits/bobs but prefer using pogies. One of the biggest benefits of any pogie or glove system is the fact they help keep the wind off your hands. This simple fact goes a long way to ensure that your hands remain warm.
I’m very fortunate to be in the position of getting hold of new kit well before it is released. This now includes the Intergalactic dry suit from Norwegian company Sweet Protection.
Sweet have been in the whitewater game for years but the Intergalactic marks their first and long awaited move into the dry suit arena. The Intergalactic is built from Gore-Tex Pro material and is backed onto a fabric that is both supple and tough. The Gore-Tex used is the 3 – layer Performance variety that is designed for extreme and extended use. I have a number of bits of kit, including a Sweet Shadrach made out of the same material and although it feels quite soft I know that it will take a beating and come back for more.
Continue readingHaving around £300 worth of GoPro camera sink to the bottom of the river is not a pleasant experience. I have been there and it is not nice.
I now have a GoPro float on all of my cameras. The OEM float comes supplied with an additional back door and costs around £13.
These River Sleds look like a huge amount of fun. Might be worth getting one!
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