NORTH WATER Paddle Sports Equipment

KEENO here....

As many of know that follow the BLOG, much of our gear and funding is starting to roll in and we're excited to be testing and becoming familiar with so many new products.  A few weeks ago, Morgan from NORTH WATER was generous enough to send the team an extensive cross-section of safety gear & paddle sports gear that they manufacture.  It's some of the best, well thought out & functional kayak gear available with an intense focus on safety for sea kayakers, white water boaters & commercial raft guides.  As you might expect from gear that is to be used in such demanding, potentially life saving & rigorous commercial applications, it's bomber in construction, quality and attention to detail!

Check out NORTH WATER's extensive line up at this link:  http://www.northwater.com/home.html

I haven't had opportunity to put all of the NORTH WATER gear thru it's paces as of yet, but I knew the Sea Tec Quick Release Rescue Tow Line had my attention from the moment it arrived.  You see, my old tow system was on it's last leg and in need of immediate replacement.  If Morgan would have given me only one choice from the product line....  The Sea Tec Tow Line would of been it!http://www.northwater.com/html/quickrelease_towline.html    

On a slightly separate note:  Over the weekend I participated in the Nashville City Wide Clean Up of J. Percy Priest Lake which hasn't seen any maintenance attention since it's inception in 1968.  When all was "more done than said", over 300 volunteers had removed in excess of 16 tons of trash, bottles, cans, BBQ's, lawn furniture & just junk from 10 different islands. http://www.cleanpercypriest.org/

How does this seemingly unrelated tidbit tie into the North Water Tow System?  Well as you could imagine with 300+ people and over 50+ kayaks & canoes of all sizes and shapes (& one rubber raft with oars), we had a bit of "Pan-da-lerium" at times with the high winds which also attended the Clean up effort (over 30mph & gusting).  One solo canoeist, paddling a tandem canoe with no weight in the bow, was very thankful when I snapped a tow (with permission) on his bow while the kayak group was heading south and he found himself heading West out of control.  Another couple in a tandem canoe was also immediately thankful for the kayak assisted tow in heavy winds to reach home.  All in all, I gave the Sea Tec Rescue Tow Line quite a workout and it performed beautifully.....  I'll have no worries with this piece of gear in the Arctic!

Comments

[Nydia]

Hi, Tim from the Kien's in Wisconsin.
It has been so interesting reading the teams blog.
Can you talk about the physical training the team is doing for the expedition?
Always exciting to read the teams blog.