In Spring 2010 our team paddlers, testing the prototype Palm Fuse jacket came back to tell us it was going well, really well…. but that it could be better….. How we asked? By adding a pair of pants and making it into a suit they explained.
But that’s not a proper dry suit came our response. Nope, they countered, and some would say the Fuse isn’t a proper dry cag, but we are plenty dry enough and we want freedom and comfort, because that’s how we are paddling.
So we went ahead and made what they asked and created something a bit new – The Spark suit.
“New ways of thinking demand new methods. The Spark suit breaks from the past to meet the needs of today’s paddlers.” – Barney Caulfield, Designer.
” In the Spark freeride suit, I can go for a quick run or charge all day; light weight, flexible cut and easy to wear, looks great too.” – Simon Westgarth, Gene 17 coach and Spark suit idea generator.
” I can coach all day, be in and out of the water and still be dry and warm’ Tom Parker, BCU level 5 coach
“After 4 months of winter, and paddling in almost every condition, count me as an advocate! This thing has far over achieved in every category that a drysuit should.” Andrew Holcombe, Racer, coach and River ambassador
” Crazy good.” – Dave Carroll, Freerider
What’s the difference?
4D cut – articulation
Developed for our premium jacket range this has now extended into the pants and really raises the bar, not only in the way it allows extended articulation in all ranges of movement, but importantly how it keeps construction simple and durable – less seams and fewer seams crossing equals better performance.
Advanced Glideskin neck
Can it be an immersion suit with a neoprene neck? We think so. Smoother, more comfortable and arguably more durable this system has been around for long enough to be proven, its simply that no-one dared adding it to a suit. The ankle system used is also, perfect for warmer conditions and suited for use in other water sports like SUP, kite surf and sailing.
XP 3 layer fabric
Our microporous membrane 3 layer material is highly waterproof, durable yet light and flexible, perfect for garments that require significant articulation, yet rugged enough for all weathers.
TI-Zip® Masterseal zippers
A dry zip that changed what’s possible in immersion suits. The low profile and flexible nature of the Masterseal allows the zip to be attached across curves perfect for a better fit around the back and shoulders. It also requires less maintenance, a bonus for wet paddlers!
Size matters
Along with other suits in our range we have quite literally broadened the size range available. The Spark comes in six sizes, including a new Medium Broad size, allowing paddlers to get optimum fit from a suit that provides optimum flexibility.
Check the full spec here and get to your dealer to try-one yourself.
Its UK National Go Canoeing week and chance to show how much you love the sport – so get out there and take part.
National Go Canoeing Week marks the launch of Go Canoeing, a national campaign supported by Canoe England and companies including Palm to encourage and inspire more people to go canoeing more regularly.
So everyone of us that loves paddling should use this week to tell others. To give you some encouragement simply post a picture of you paddling on our Facebook walland you’re in with a chance to win a bag of Palm goodies for sharing your experaince. In fact why not share it with others and spread the message!
To win, simply take a snap of you or your paddling friends and post on our wall. Tell us who, where and when it was (between 6th and 15th of April) and let everyone know why the paddling was so great! We’ll choose the one we feel best represents the spirit of Go Canoeing and announce a winner on Monday the 16th.
Fancy knowing how to select an an iceberg as a lunch spot?
Want to know how to deal with wild bears?
Questioning how to get five days food into your 10L drybag?
Well look no further! Questions like these and others like where do I poo in the woods, are answered in Palm paddler Olly Sanders new expedition skills DVD – which is on-sale now.
Its taken Olly a while to get this together, not least because he’s had to do so many expeditions to know whats what. But all that time in far off places (jealous, us!) means he is Mr Know-how when it comes to planning and undertaking those fiver-star experiences that are life defining.
So if you’re desperate to know the etiquette on telling a polar bear your just not their sort get on-line and ordering.
London has never been an unknown white spot on my kayaking map. With Hurley Weir as one the country’s prime freestyle spots close by and a vibrant boater community living in the region, the metropolis of England has always ment more to me than Tower Bridge, Big Ben and the Queen.
But now, London has gainded one more attraction: the Lee Valley White Water Centre. As part of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, no efforts have been spared to create one of the most challenging and modern whitewater courses in the world.
Since I moved to Bristol about two weeks ago, there hasn’t been enough rain to get some of the notorious local creeks running. Hence, when Rowie from Palm asked me whether I was keen on checking out the Olympic course before the world’s best Slalom athletes would occupy it for their games, I was in. Rowie booked the course and invited all her paddling buddies. And off we went.
Despite the chilly February wind and rain, the course was full of people. Rafters, whitewater paddlers and slalom kayakers braving the weather. But before we could all join them on the water, we had to undergo a mandatory assessment by an expert, proofing that we were skilled enough to cope with the difficulties. I was highly amused when the guy came up to our group. It was my old friend Matt, whom I haven’t seen for years. So we had quite a lot of fun with him during the following hour.
The whitewater park is devided into two separate sections: the easier Legacy course and the full on Olympic course. While the Olympic one is really fast, pushy and packed with stronger holes and waves, the Legacy course is way more relaxed but still good fun containing some really nice play features like stern squirt eddies, surf waves and a hole for big loops and enders. Both end up in a large pool where two conveyor belts wait for you to bring you back up to the start.
After passing the assessment in our red bibs (showing that we were capable of avoiding a number of rafts banging around with lack of control) we were allowed to pay for more time on the water (10£ per hour) and had to change to orange bibs (cameras monitoring that you’re wearing the right one everywhere). We were surfing it up, racing against each other or just cruising down both sections numerous times until our time was up. Cold, tired but smiling from one ear to the other we got changed and headed to the local pub to celebrate the great session with a delicious pint.
Can’t wait to come back. It’s just a shame that London is so far away from Bristol. So let’s hope for rain and see you all on the Dart or the Lynn :).
Seppi
PS: I also had the pleasure to try out the brand new Spark Suit and AMP vest from Palm, both in lime green. Check out the photos. The combination looks wicked.
Do you know what the ISO test is? How is fabric waterproofness measured? Is breathability in paddling gear really relevant. Will Kevlar® socks really stop a bullet? These questions and more will get answered at the end of January when we bring our head designer Barney Caulfield to the inaugural Gene 17 River Source Symposium.
He’ll be fresh off the back of Palm’s annual design week and no doubt buzzing with new ideas from planning our ranges for 2013, 2014 and beyond. So what better chance to get a unique glimpse into how Palm go about the whole process from product concept to manufacture – oh and its free, yes FREE!
But it’s not just about us showing off how we make stuff – although we’ll have a load of new gear on show Making the right kit choices can massively increase the enjoyment and success of you or your groups days out. Barney will be guiding from inside out so you understand how to get the most from your paddling gear and how to choose the right stuff.
At the tail end of 2011 Welsh kayak anglers Andrew Williams and Gareth Bowen took themsleves north, to Scotland, in search of Skate…… looks like the Aleutain suits were needed in that cold weather.
We had awful weather for the week and only managed to get out onto the Skate grounds for two sessions , each lasting no longer than 3-4 hours.
I reckon I had a bait on the bottom for 2 hours tops but still managed two skate , one of 40lb the other 90lb. The pics of the 90lb fish are poor quality as they are stills taken from a video. Gareth was using my camera and was unfamiliar with it , he thought he was taking stills but was actually just focussing the camera, we sorted this by the second session which is when I had the smaller fish.
I was the only angler who caught any skate , Gareth did hook into a monster which he played for 50 minutes before his line snapped – gutted .
As the target weight of 100lb plus was not reached , I am going back at the end of March for another crack at them , along with Gareth and a few other kayak anglers.
We’ll be keeping track of progress on this as well as more reports on the kayak fishing scene and possibly some event news.
What a great year we’ve had at Palm. So many highlights that have been covered here on the blog, on facebook and just generally gathered from being out about about on the water.
With 2012 almost upon us, we already have a load of trips, adventures and other exciting activities planned by team members, plus requests for events to attend and of course lots of new gear on its way…..can’t wait!
But for now, no matter where you are or what you are doing, we wish you a merry Christmas and a happy new year.
Myself and some of the Palm crew have just returned from a fantastic weekend at Simon Westgarth’s Gene 17 Adventure Paddlers weekend on the river Dart.
I’m sure the rest of the team will update on the events of the weekend soon, but I couldn’t resist getting in there first to tell you about the most fun thing I have done for ages!!
I’m not even really sure how it came about, but I’m sure it was something to do with the combination of my own withdrawal symptoms from rafting in Costa Rica and a team of adventurers freshly returned from the jungles of Indonesian Papua. The result was a fair band of pirates (Pete Wood, Chris Easterbrook, Dave Fairweather and myself) at the put in to Dart Meet with one borrowed raft and a broken pump. Without even trying we somehow managed to get some friendly paddlers to help fix the pump and inflate the whole raft such was their desire to watch us descend the river, and no doubt provide them with hours of guaranteed entertainment! On the 50m walk to the put in we picked up two more heroic, but, as became apparent later on, rather disobedient crew members. They went by the names Luke Farrington and Tim Burne and had spotted the fun a mile away, immediately ditching their kayaks to join in!
I’m not sure what happened to the kayak race down the mad mile that was roughly planned for 2.30pm (did we hijack it?!) but we ended up being lead down the section by Simon Westgarth and being surrounded flotilla of around 40 curious kayakers, who I’m certain were hanging around to see a pin, a flip or a swim.
For some reason I decided that where the raft was going was my responsibility and turned into a surprisingly bossy assertive guide. But with such a dream team there was no way we could fail! We all turned into children again, the whole experience was a fantastic emotional rollercoaster of adrenaline, uncontrollable laughter, whoops and shrieks as we whirled down the river over holes and ledges. Wicked rumours were flying around the kayak flotilla that there were expressions of pure terror etched into the faces of those in the front of the raft on the precarious lip of Euthanasia and Surprise Surprise, however we all know that rumours are never true…
We managed to descend the whole river successfully, with only a few pins and swims. The aforementioned Tim Burne soon became the most unintentionally disobedient crew member by perfecting the art of tumbling from the raft disconcertingly slowly, and in such a way that we still just couldn’t seem to grab him in time.
Luckily pictures of the fun, courtesy of photographer Kev Winsor (who can be found at Paddle Photos on facebook) were taken, so enjoy. Check out the awesome splat at Lovers Leap – they boys were very happy with that! I hope it inspires you to try rafting – just because it is so ridiculously fun!
We’ve just got back from the Tryweryn Festival in North Wales. For now here are a few shots from the now legendary Palm 8-Ball Competition (boaterX, but with inflatable obstacles!)
Massive thanks to Bleddyn and all the guys at NWWC, and to all the coaches (especially Andy Turton and Lowri Davies) for working so hard over the weekend to make the festival a success.
It’s definetely one for the diary, we’ll let you know when next years’ dates are decided.
Making the right kit choices can massively increase the enjoyment and success of you or your groups days out. Barney will be guiding from inside out so you understand how to get the most from your paddling gear and how to choose the right stuff.
