Paddling tips, tricks, news and gear reviews from an Unsponsored point of view
Name: Aaron Kendall
Location: Loggerheads, Mold, North wales
I’m currently a outdoor instructor for Kingswood, based at the Colomendy outdoor centre. What seems to be the perfect location, although I seem to of missed most of the rain due to other commitments. Still getting plenty of low water runs in and the odd bit of water too.
For ever and a day I have been using Oakley MTB shorts for all biking duties. They have been my favourite and served me well. However I managed to get hold of some Sweet Protection Hunter shorts to test and have been blown away by the fit, function and design.
Hunter Enduro shorts from Sweet Protection on Vimeo.
So what is so special. Well they fit really well, plenty of adjustment and the fabric has just that little bit of stretch that helps whilst pedalling. Not too tight and not too baggy (for a pair of baggies!). Length wise they sit just over the knee and are wide enough to accommodate knee pads without any issues.
Name: Dave Brown (aka Redneck Dave, Full Face Dave, Small Head)
Location: Barrow or North Wales
Boat: Currently an XL Burn Mk3 in the sickest colours you’ve ever seen – Rasta
I really like the way the rails allow you to carve hard without stalling and tripping you up unlike the old burn, making it easy to fine tune lines and snap into eddies. It has quite a flat hull which allows it to surf easily, staying high on features and keeping you in control as you move laterally across the flow which is really cool. It has the Connect 2014 outfitting it comes with which allows the seat to be varied in both height and pitch. I have this set in the highest position, with the largest block installed under the front of the seat to really lock me in which works well, even though I’m the bottom end of the weight range. Seeing as I have the attention span of a gnat, I’m considering swapping out for a 9R to get some speed in my life.
Louise Fingleton traveled out to BC earlier this year for some sweet whitewater action. This short edit gives just a little bit of insight into summer 2014 in BC. Continue reading
A nice little edit from Stu Ridley of the River Militia summer trip to Norway.
An action packed four weeks during the summer, we traveled from the Telemark region and headed North towards the Arctic Circle looking for the goods in each region. Continue reading
Another great perspective on the Sweet Intergalactic Dry Suit.
Rush Sturges has recently announced that he is leaving Team Dagger for a spot with Jackson Kayak. Find out why right here:
Sweet Protection showcased the new Intergalactic Dry Suit at this year’s (2014) OR show. Last year Unsponsored tried out a final pre-production model.
Sweet have been in the whitewater game for years but the Sweet Intergalactic marks their first and long awaited move into the dry suit arena. The Sweet 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.
Sweet are no strangers to the paddling world and over the years I have tried and owned a fair few items from their range. However earlier this year saw the arrival of the newly updated Shambala shorts. Compared to previous models the new 2014 have a more fitted and articulated fit. In addition to the improvements made to the overall fit the fastenings and adjustments on the shorts have also been tweaked.
The old current kit topics on the forum were always popular, so I thought I’d give you all an update of my current kit for July 2014.
This is somewhat of a different product from Sweet. Sweet are well known for their great kayak and snow sports kit but the Jailbreak jacket offers something a little different. The Jailbreak is essentially a light weight mountain jacket suitable for a range of activities.
It’s not a jacket for on water use. I have so far used the Jailbreak while I have been mountain biking, climbing and hill walking. Think of the Jailbreak as an Arcteryx Beta LT and you would be along the right lines.
I have been using a Sweet Protection Shadrach dry top for the last couple of years when it gets a little warm for a full dry suit. It has served me well has stood up to the test of time. For 2014 Sweet protection have released the new Supernova dry top and thanks to the guys at Sweet I have been able to give one of the new Supernova dry tops in Gunmetal blue a good test for review here.
Now I must start off with the fact that Sweet kit is pretty expensive. The Goretex Pro shell Supernova retails at a huge £399. Now that this is out in the open and out of the way lets consider what you are getting for your hard earned cash.
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