Bomber Gear

I thing that I neglected to mention in my post last week was that while in Reno, I picked up a new skirt (Deck, as the british put it) for my kayak. For those that don't know, the skirt or deck is generally made of neoprene, and is designed to seal the kayaker into the boat, attaching around the rim of the cockpit. The skirt is also responsible for keeping a large amount of water out of the boat- helping the kayaker stay dry and afloat. 

Having a good skirt is important in a lot of ways. One- it keeps you dry, thus keeping you warmer and afloat. Two- it keeps you in the boat, which is always important. I have had a quite a few friends have their skirts implode, or pop off on them unexpectedly, and it can be very frightening. It is also helpful if a kayaker can put their skirts on their kayaks by themselves. It sounds silly- but as all skirts and kayak cockpits are slightly different in shape and size, getting one that fits easily, without letting too much water in can be hard. 

At any rate- I picked up a new skirt in Reno made by Bomber Gear. They are a company that i have been a fan of for a while- looking through my gear I discovered that my drypants, one of my favorite thermals, and a drytop i own are also made by Bomber Gear. They went out of business for a few years, but are back in action with a whole new line of products. Check out their website www.bombergear.com

I got their womens specific Floral Bomb skirt, with an extra small tunnel that fits my waist, and a larger keyhole shaped deck to go on a creek boat. I have to say that I love it, and it has held up amazingly well after putting it through its paces in California.  Though it was a little difficult to get on at first, the skirt quickly molded to the shape of the cockpit rim after leaving it on their damp one night. Since then i have not had any problems putting it on, and I still stay amazingly dry. I was pleasantly suprised to see how well it held up on the South Branch, especially on the 50 footer at the end of the run. Most Creek Specific skirts have implosion bars to help the skirt distribute pressure (either from impact or going deep underwater). 

Photo from Jeremy Lauks

Here I am on one of the smaller drops on the South Branch. Note how well my blue bomb flower skirt stands out in the pictures! 

We did a nice easy play run on the edwards-purdance section of the S. Branch of the Yuba river, and my skirt worked just as well with my playboat. I was pleasantly surprised yet again yesterday- We just pulled in to Buena Vista for PaddleFest and the BVpro rodeo- so i decided to hop back in my playboat and take a few quick surfs in the playpark here. My skirt held up great, and i was able to watch the preliminaries of the rodeo in my gear, almost completely dry! 

We are out in Buena Vista for the weekend, and then off to steamboat for another Demshitz movie premier, and then to Glenwood springs for team trials... The tour continues!