I’ve been using the small Palm Equipment Lightning throwline as my small carry on a belt throwline. The compact size of the bag makes it ideal for this purpose. To achieve this size, it only uses 18m of 8mm rope with a 8KN breaking strain.

In addition to a small bag I also like to have a larger burlier throwline in the boat. This is where the new Bolt throwline comes into to play. The Bolt takes many of the features of the Lightning and scales thing up. As a result it includes 20m of 11mm rope with a breaking strain of 10KN. This is strong enough to use as a haul line, but is still light enough for person to person rescues. The rope is really nice to handle even when under considerable load. A nice touch is that the two ends of the rope have been shrink wrapped.

Palm Equipment Bolt Throwline - First Look

The Bolt is cylindrical bag in bright orange/yellow for high visibility with additional reflective detailing. The outer fabric is Cordura 500 which is both tough and light. Where lined the fabric is a contrasting bright blue and of a lighter but ripstop construction.

Palm Equipment Bolt Throwline - First Look

The Bolt includes the Fidlock magnetic closure. It is a bayonet type clip that contains a magnet. The system does not rely on a magnet to keep it shut. This helps position the two parts against each other in the correct way and it then simply snaps together.

Palm Equipment Bolt Throwline - First Look

Palm Equipment Bolt Throwline - First Look

The line is attached to a short length of tape. The tape is of climbing grade and is heavily stitched. A small loop of tape is accessible on the outside of the bag. It is just big enough to get a carabiner in place. It is long enough to clip a carabiner into but it is difficult to get fingers trapped in there. On the inside of the bag the rope is threaded through the tape and is secured with a figure eight knot. As with all my bags I like to check the knots before use. If wished, you could detach the rope quite easily.

Palm Equipment Bolt Throwline - First Look

The opening of the bag is huge and is stiffened. The construction is very similar to that used in a climbing chalk bag. This makes the deployment of the bag when thrown and repacking the rope very simple and effective.

Belt loops on the bag fit the Palm’s own Quick Release Belt (and belts from other manufacturers) so you always have your line to hand. Now the bag is pretty heavy at just over 1kg to wear on a belt but is small enough to store easily within a boat.

A mentioned the bag has a bit of weight to it that really helps with the throw and the wide neck allows the rope to deploy easily. Repacking the bag is also a simple affair but as with most bags caution needs to be taken to ensure that rope is tightly packed enough so that the closure system is easy to engage.

Palm have always made great throwbags and over the years I have owned or have used pretty much all of the different designs.

The Bolt is currently drying out and in the garage but once dried and packed will be living in the back of my kayak on all future Unsponsored adventures.

Specification:

ROPE: 20 m of 11 mm, high visibility, floating polypropylene cored rope
WEIGHT: 1123 g (20 m)
BAG CORDURA ® 500D bag with 420D polyester lining
STRENGTH: 10 kN static breaking strength