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

Tag: SUP (Page 8 of 13)

Immersion Research Shawty Drysuit – Review

17 May 2016 / / 0 Comments

“Ooh I love the colour”, “Such a pretty drysuit!”, “It matches your boat!”

Immersion Research Shawty Dry Suit Review

These are comments that I’ve had about my Immersion Research Shawty drysuit which I’ve been using for the past couple of months. Don’t get me wrong, I love the colour but I also think it’s a great bit of kit and am disappointed that no one’s asked me why I actually bought it rather than assuming I got it because it’s purple!

Here’s my tuppence worth:

I’m 5ft 3, size 10/12 with short (T-Rex!) arms and I have a medium Shawty. I use my drysuit for coaching (when it’s cold), WW Kayaking, “freestyle” (being upside down a lot!), SUPing and bizarrely, rescuing sheep!

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Sweet Protection Supernova 2016 – First Look

8 May 2016 / / 0 Comments

We had a box of goodies arrive at Unsponsored HQ last week containing lots of gear from Sweet Protection.

Sweet Protection Supernova 2016 - First Look

One of the first items out of the box was the Sweet Protection Supernova 2016.

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How To Make A Flip Line

30 April 2016 / / 0 Comments

The is How to Make a Flip Line edit from US based NRS is a great watch.

How to Make a Flip Line

A flip line, or guide belt, made with a length of webbing and a locking carabiner, has many different uses for kayakers, rafters and canoeist. In addition to helping flip an overturned raft, you can use it to make a rescue anchor, boat tether, rescue harness, etc. Swiftwater rescue instructor Jim Coffey shows how to build yours.

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Dirty First Aid Series – Part 6

22 April 2016 / / 0 Comments

So we all had a break from the Dirty First Aid, bet you are glad?

Well now lets be quick, lets be simple.

Kayakers, Sup guys n’ gals, Canoeists we all have our own thoughts about breaks and dislocations – but lets get down and dirty.

Unsponsored-Dirty First Aid Series - Part 6 5

It’s simple – immobilise as easy and quick as possible, lets not get caught up with which sling is best, which way to strap.

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10 Ways To Fall In Love With Paddling Again

9 March 2016 / / 1 Comment

In our paddling journey, we often hit dead ends, have a bad day, pickup injuries or simply lose interest over time. Here’s some ideas to not just get you back into paddling, but spice up your skills and love being on the water again.

Here are my 10 ways to fall in love with paddling again.

10 Ways to Fall in Love with Paddling Again

Fear! Sometime we’re not sure why we even bother.

Try a different discipline – if you’re a kayaker, try a canoe. Embrace the range of skills which you can learn from a different discipline, skills which are transferable across all paddlesport. You could try open canoeing, C-boating, kayaking, marathon, sprint, slalom, SUPing, rafting, dragonboating… the possibilities are endless!

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Palm Equipment Lightning Throwbag

2 March 2016 / / 0 Comments

We will have our hands on a new Palm Equipment Lightning throwbag very shortly and will be forcing members of Team Unsponsored to swim to try it out. We had close look a few weeks ago at Palm HQ and it is clear that they are going to be very popular.

Palm Equipment Lightning Throwbag

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Wet And Wild Wales

1 March 2016 / / 0 Comments

A friend of mine and I were discussing paddling in Wales last Sunday. He described it as the best best place in world to paddle. Given that he has paddled the world over that is not a throw away statement.

Wet And Wild Wales

This edit from Luke Farmer gives just a small glimpse of what Wet And Wild Wales has to offer the whitewater paddler.

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Dirty First Aid Series – Part 4

28 February 2016 / / 0 Comments

Lets just recap the principles of First Aid:

To preserve life
To protect the casualty from further harm
To promote recovery

Remember here that it also goes past the ‘find it, fix it’ to after care. Keep looking out for delayed symptoms and general health following the incident.

Good river guides come across this on a daily basis.

It’s about client care first and foremost.

This short tale from raft guide trainer Mark Hirst highlights the issues.

Dirty First Aid - Part 4

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DMM Boa – Review

27 February 2016 / / 0 Comments

The DMM Boa is one of the biggest locking carabiners available. It is billed as the ultimate rigging biner and is used by climbers and high rope access technicians. The Boa is super strong and super tough so this makes it ideal for paddling. I’ve had two types of Boa as shown below. They are the essentially the same in design and weight but have different locking systems. The one on the left has the traditional screw gate and the one on the right has a lock safe gate system.

DMM Boa - Review

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Palm Atom Drysuit – First Look

20 February 2016 / / 6 Comments

Hot for 2016 is the new Palm Atom Drysuit. We saw one of these at Paddle Expo back in September 2015 so are very pleased to get hold of one for review on Unsponsored.

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It’s been a few years since we last tried a Palm suit here at Unsponsored HQ which gives us the opportunity to take a fresh look at what Palm Equipment have been doing to develop their suits.

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Astral Hiyak – Review

8 February 2016 / / 6 Comments

I’m going to begin the Astral Hiyak – review by saying a little bit about the boots I’ve been using most of the time – the Five Ten Water Tennies. They have been faultless and have become my favourite pair of paddling boots. The Stealth rubber is what really makes it. I have several pairs of shoes/boots and have probably tested/reviewed pretty much everything that is available on the market but for river use I always return to the Water Tennies.

Astral Hiyak - Review
Astral Hiyak – Review

Now to the Astral Hiyak. They don’t have the Stealth rubber from Five Ten but have Astral’s own G.ss rubber, I have seen the G.ss a number of times but have never been able to try it out, until now.

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Dirty First Aid – The Series

21 January 2016 / / 0 Comments

Old man river Darren Clarkson-King (DAZ) will be supplying a series of ‘Dirty First Aid’ articles for Unsponsored. The series of articles will be posted here over the next few months and will centre around first aid for river runners.

Dirty First Aid - The Series

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