Spark Testing

As winter shifts to spring here in the southeast United States the paddling season continues to be a good one. Even though the weather is starting to warm up its still drysuit season and I expect many more days in my Spark before summer truly hits. This suit has been an amazing surprise for me over the winter and I am now a convert to its comfort, versatility, and quality.

I will be honest when I received my Spark suit back in late October as a part of Palms testing program I was a little skeptical. I mean the purpose of a drysuit is to be dry right?   I just couldn’t see how a neoprene neck gasket would do the trick. However 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.

The best thing about the Spark is its comfort. The cut makes this the most comfortable drysuit I’ve ever worn. This translates to exceptional ease of movement both on and off the water, especially in the arms and torso area. All that space makes this suit a freestyle kayakers dream, you can twist and contort all you want! It doesn’t stop there, the light but durable choice of fabric only adds to the comfort.

Now comfort is all fine and good whether you’re a freestyler or a river runner but the real question is: does it keep you warm enough?

Bryan Knight putting the Spark through its paces on the Linville Gorge.

The answer absolutely yes. I’ve been kayaking both freestyle and river running in temperatures down to around 40 degree F and am happy to say the Spark performed just fine. The Neoprene neck keeps you comfortable, no restricting the airways, yet still provides a good seal. And with gaskets on the wrist my arms stay nice and dry.

An unexpected benefit of the Spark for me was how perfect it was for a couple of the extreme races here late last fall. Often times the weather is a little chilly but if you wear a full on drysuit you can get really over heated while you’re racing. The Spark’s combo of ease of movement and light fabric made it the perfect suit for racing. Then I was able to stay toasty warm while I watched the rest of the race from the shore!

The Flying Squirrel, right above Gorilla during the Green Race.

All in all I would not hesitate to recommend the Spark to anyone and I look forward to many more great days of kayaking in it! Plus it has a badass color….

Airing it out, post Greenrace celebration at Sunshine.

Get your Skates on!

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.