The pocket book for size comparison only - not included with the solar charger! No rechargeable batteries or a power bank, either, but that would be a bit too much to ask considering the price.
Many moons ago, I figured it would be neat to have a (compact) solar charger available on kayaking trips. My reasoning should be mostly obvious - it's great to have a power source when away from the grid, weather permitting! - but I do also get this warm and fuzzy feeling from using solar power.
Quite a bit of research followed and, in the end, I decided on the Anker Power Port Solar Lite - the 15W rated sibling to the larger (21W) one. Anker is globally known for high quality chargers, power banks and other similar accessories (check the Decoder interview with Anker CEO!) and the Solar Lite has been one of the most popular and budget friendly solar chargers for years.
My experiences from using the Solar Lite are also definitely positive, including the 'bang for the GBP factor' (I bought mine from Amazon UK): I think I paid roughly 40 GBP and that included the shipping cost to my very Nordic location in northern Sweden. A summary of my thoughts, after sporadically using the charger since 2016:
The unit is very compact, extremely durable when folded and copes just fine with some light drizzle (the ports are not well protected from rain though). However, I sure wouldn't recommend leaving it unfolded and open in the rain!
It does the charging job very well, considering the compact size of the panels. No problems charging a phone or a similar device and in direct sunlight it seems to perform just as well - or better - than a traditional out-of-the-box phone charger. The Solar Lite also resumes charging almost immediately after a cloud has passed and does trickle charge even through some light cloud cover.
My unit has two 'old school' USB outputs; USB-C is way too modern of course! I have rarely tried charging two units simultaneously but charging two phones has worked okay, even though more slowly.
Normally, I use the Solar to keep a power bank well charged. I have also tried placing the Solar on top of my kayak rear deck, in a clear (100% water proof tested) map 'sleeve' along with a small power bank and that did work, even though charging was slow through the plastic. Your mileage will most probably vary.
If you have a tiny phone - or a power bank - it might fit in the built-in pouch with a velcro closure. Beware that whatever you put in there does get hot in direct sunlight; that's generally a very bad idea, especially when NiMH batteries are involved. Get a longer USB cable instead so you can have your electronics better protected from the sun while connected to the Solar.
All in all, a great solar charger that doesn't add much weight to whatever you are lugging around, so a good choice for hiking as well. Cool? Actually the opposite in direct sunlight but a good choice anyway!
I know - the photo is not 'in the wild' at all but it shows all the gear needed at least. Batteries not included!
I still can't quite get it that it took me so many years to realize that a VHF marine handheld really is something I need to have when I'm out there on the water, in my sea kayak. Guess I've always figured that, since I never do any extreme stuff, I'm good anyway. Well, it turned out that's not the case; my writing about that here.
These days both me and my wife are always wearing a Standard Radio HX870 marine VHF radio when kayaking; it's a good choice in many ways but easily charging the battery is not one of them. You have to bring along, in addition to the radio..
Lugging around all that gear, it's possible to charge the HX870 when you are somewhere - probably in the tent - fully protected from the (wet) elements. No 'wet swap' of the battery possible, by the way, but I'd guess that would be a lot to ask. The cable connecting the power to the charging cradle is, unfortunately, of the cheap & stiff kind that you don't want to bend too many times (and the same applies to the car charger cable).
Perhaps the main drawback of the HX870 - and many other marine radios - is this: you can't charge the radio without the cradle and there is no way, that I know of, to charge the battery when it's removed from the radio. Sure, a USB port is a potential point of failure but there are ways - far better than a rubber flap - to secure it from water damage.
Obviously, to be able to charge anything, you also need a power source but that's another story altogether!
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It's cranky alright - and you really can crank some emergency power into this thing
I do like analogue technology - perhaps just because almost everything seems to be in the digital domain these days. The good old radio broadcasting is still alive and kicking in Sweden, even though the young folks barely seem to know what it is.
Even though the days of the old fashioned radio are probably numbered, there are situations where the age old tech beats its digital counterpart. Some of the plus points:
Proven, robust tech
Good coverage (in many countries)
Inexpensive end user equipment
No internet connection needed!
In case of a major emergency, analogue radio broadcast is still the straightforward way of reaching many people - completely separate from digital networks that can always be messed up by hostile actors, from anywhere on the globe.
The Sangean MMR-88 - Survivor(!) - is marketed as an emergency FM/AM radio and the tiny piece of kit definitely has features that underline this description: hand crank dynamo as an alternative power source and a solar panel being the foremost ones. Hey, I almost forgot - the radio has the bright yellow 'emergency kit' color as well! However, the color does not equal full protection from rain or rough handling; an unlucky drop from a moderate height to a hard surface would probably break the (non-rubberised) main plastic shell. Is this thing the Survivor? Not quite sure about that..
The radio has good reception and surprisingly good audio quality from the tiny speaker. The crank works as advertised for emergency power and the tiny solar panel seems to give the battery enough boost to keep it powering the radio for most of (preferably sunny) days.
My main gripe - apart from the lack of good protection from the elements and the weird format of the replaceable battery - is the large on/off button, on top of the unit, for the built-in flashlight. It's great to have a flashlight but the big button will invariably be pressed accidentally when traveling! The result: no battery power when it's time to get the radio out of the bag or the innards of the kayak. This is a stupid design flaw and, obviously, I had to make an advanced modification of my own to correct the situation.
I have earlier put together a more detailed summary of this Sangean radio - you'll find the GoogleDoc here - and, for the most part, I like this tiny unit. Pretty Cool but there's definitely also room for improvement.
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I went kayak sailing on Sunday and it seems I managed to nail my timing perfectly for learning the most in the shortest period of time. I launched from the Marina Del Rey public boat ramp and got on the water about noon. It was high tide and the forecast was for 8-11 knots of wind and that seemed about right except it was coming from the north instead of the usual west/north west. With the winds coming from the north it makes for an easy sail out to the ocean instead of having to beat upwind but is always a bit rougher.
Kayak sailing lunch
I ate my lunch while sailing and it only took about 30 minutes to get out to the breakwater and the entrance to the ocean. At this point you can exit to the north or the south. When winds are high and from the north it can be difficult to exit on the north side due to a strong current flowing through. Exiting to the south is easy but if the winds and current are pushing you south it can make getting back into the harbor difficult.
More wind, more waves
By this time the wind from the west had picked up and the falling tide had created a bit of a current making exiting to the north easy. The water is always roughest directly outside of the mouth to the harbor and today was no exception. I wanted to head up the coast a little bit but 6-7ft waves were coming at me and I didn’t want them on my beam so I pointed in to them to get away from the confused seas around the breakwater. Winds were a steady 10-12 knots but they kept switching between coming from the north and coming from the west/southwest. I turned to the north west and was making a small amount of progress up the coast but I was also moving further out to sea. The waves I was expecting to diminish as I moved away from the harbor mouth instead seemed to be growing. There were actually two different swells happening. One was in the 6-7ft range from south-west and another from the north-west of about 2-3ft with a higher frequency. Sometimes they would add on top of each other and sometimes they would subtract. At one point I noticed a really cool cross hatched pattern of swell on the surface of the water.
A surprise gust
I was much more comfortable beating into the large waves than running before them but I was over half a mile from the beach and didn’t want to be too far from shore so I tacked. The large waves were passing under me with no problem and I was sailing nicely towards shore when winds of 30+knots started coming from the north. So much for the 8-11knot forecast. I needed to be home soon because my wife had plans to go swimming so I decided this was as good a time as any to head back. As soon as I got turned around a nice big 7+ft wave came from my right. I felt a little wobbly but was doing fine passing over it when a 30+knot gust came from my left and I failed to keep the boat upright.
Reentry trouble
This is only the second time I have capsized while sailing and the first time where I felt it was actually from the conditions and not just me doing something stupid in high winds. I have actually been trying to push things to find the point where this would happen and I guess I finally succeeded. My first train of thought when this happens is to stay calm and make sure I am clear of all the lines and in no danger of getting tangled. Twisting around quickly is the surest way to get tangled in a line. I was confident that I was clear of the lines and I had my paddle in my hand which was attached to the boat by my paddle leash so had no problem staying with it. The next course of action was to un turtle it. I reached under the boat and uncleated the forestay and boom vang lines so that the sail wouldn’t fight me when I went to flip it over. Then I lifted the side closest to me, got it to the point where it was about to flip over and it fell right back down. I did this twice then realized I needed to stop and assess the situation.
Autopilot off, brain on
I have righted and reentered my boat while kayak surfing many times without even thinking about it but today autopilot seemed to be failing me. Normally the wind and waves would be pushing me towards the shore but instead the combination of the tidal current and the wind from the north were actually pushing me out to sea. Fun! I had my VHF radio in my PFD like always but had left my PLB at home so no backup if shit really hit the fan and the VHF failed me. I wasn’t very concerned but still those thoughts ran through my head as I turned to why I was having trouble flipping my boat.
For one the waves were pushing it back down when I tried to lift it and I probably would have succeeded if I was on the other side but the truth of the matter was despite knowing better I was just plain doing it wrong. Lifting one side of the boat works fine when in the surf where you can touch the ground but it just causes the boat to slide away from you when you can’t. I know this and that is not how I normally right my boat. I have been avoiding doing too much with my right hand since I hurt my wrist and it seems on autopilot I was trying to flip my boat one handed.
Now with my brain engaged I calmly lifted the side closest to me with one hand and reached under to grab the handle on the opposite side. It flipped over easily like it usually does. I quickly hopped in the boat then realized at some point I had set down my paddle. I followed the paddle leash to the paddle which was luckily right there although I noticed the knot holding the line to it looked rather loose. I have been meaning to figure out a better knot for that so I guess that is a sign that I need to get on it. I hadn’t brought much with and everything still seemed to be secured in place so it seems that I got that right.
Back in the saddle
Now I needed to get my sail back in order. I could have stowed it and just paddled because of the rough conditions but what fun is that? I picked the sail up out of the water and set it loosely on my lap and looked to the lines. I dressed the sheets to make sure they weren’t tangled but the forestay line had pulled out of the cleat. On a bigger sailboat this line would be the perfect candidate for using a stopper knot to keep it from pulling out of the cleat as it can be a pain to retrieve when it does. I figure minimizing entanglement hazards is a far more important priority though and I would rather a line pull free than get snagged on it when my boat capsizes. On the flip side taking more time to get going again after such an episode could result into drifting into dangerous rocky shores, etc… I am not convinced my system is right but as of now I don’t use stopper knots on anything. Luckily it only took me 2 attempts to fish my forestay line out of the water with my paddle and I was quickly sailing towards safe harbor with a 30 knot breeze behind me.
Heading home
As I entered the sheltered waters of the main channel both winds and waves were much calmer. Winds here were back to being from the west and I contemplated throwing the spinnaker up but decided I had enough excitement for my short 2 hour adventure. I sailed at a good pace and was actually drying out a bit when a large 2 masted sailboat overtook me rather close with unreefed main, mizen and a jib flying. It is a no wake zone but sailboats can often get away with a bit of speed and I underestimated just how big of a wake their large boat would make. After getting a bit swamped I pulled over to the dinghy dock to dry off before continuing home. I then sailed on and headed home happy about another successful and educational day on the water.
The photo is from another, great kayaking trip to Norway - the Helgeland coastal area
I do like Norway a lot, in many ways. The scenery is incredibly spectacular (well, provided you can actually see something) and the Norwegians I've met have all been friendly and helpful. It's a bit like what the US folks often - half jokingly - say about Canadians, them generally being so polite and friendly (which I also believe to be very close to the truth). Being a sea kayaking addict, I should have been kayaking in Norway much more during the years! North Atlantic is way, way Cool. In case you ever get the chance: Arctic Sea Kayak Race is just amazing and the best part is that you do not have to take part in the race :) Well, I do hope there is still time for future adventures; Norway is definitely not far from our home turf.
A couple of years ago, me and my wife had the pleasure to join some friends and paddle together in Norway. Weatherwise, it was a mixed bag - nothing unusual about that! - but it was a really great trip. However, one of our paddling day tours turned out to be a bit different in a way that resulted in me purchasing a cheap PMR radio and later a proper marine VHF handheld - see my writing about the Standard Radio HX870here.
So, what happened? Nothing very dramatic or extremely dangerous but things could have gone south - and right there, radio comms would have been great. We were on the water, not at all very far from the shoreline, but after a while the waves got really choppy and all of a sudden I noticed that it was just me and one fellow kayaker who could see each other - the others were way out there somewhere, hidden by the waves, and possibly heading in another direction. I was doing okay, in my old but very seaworthy North Shore Calypso, but my friend wasn't and I had no idea what the deal was for my wife and the rest of the bunch.
I felt frustrated like crazy but, after a while, the rest of the party showed up and there wasn't much more to the whole thing. In the evening I did say something about what I felt; we could have got ourselves into some pretty serious business. In the end we, the whole group, never got together and discussed thoroughly what had happened and what could have happened and how to avoid something like that happening in the future. We definitely should have.
The good part is that me & wife got the radios. Money well spent for sure; no way I'll ever go kayaking without a VHF radio any more and I might even throw in a Ocean Signal PLB1 for good measure. The more features you cram into a handheld radio, the more power hungry it gets. After all, the emergency DSC capability of a VHF radio is not much use if the battery is dead.
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The extremely cool tape-and-cord arrangement was not included in the package or recommended by the manufacturer; I just tried to make sure not to lose the radios when using them in the kayak!
Some years ago, after a kayaking incident in Norway, I started wondering if it might be a good idea to have a handheld radio when on the water in my sea kayak. Obviously, a radio is not (necessarily) of much use if you are out there on your own - I rarely am - but being able to communicate with your kayaking buddy even when there's some open water between you two can be a very good thing. In fact, it just might turn out to be a life saver kind of a thing, in addition to being plain fun!
To get the hang of things, I started looking for a two piece set of cheap so called PMR radios and then purchased the Topcom Twintalker 9500. These radios are very small, very lightweight and powered by four AAA-batteries. The radio does surpass the cheapest toy devices: the 9500 offers 8 channels, DCS sub channels (modern tech to keep channels separate) and voice activated (VOX) transmission, among other things. They should also withstand some rain, I noticed beforehand - however, not splashing waves and definitely not getting submerged!
The range of a (handheld) radio transmission is always an interesting topic and it is affected by a multitude of factors: terrain, the frequency band available, the antenna and the output power to name four foremost ones. A PMR radio does by definition not rank high on coping with any of these and the 'max.10 km in open field' claim really does not mean anything at all - except possibly that you always get less than this incredible range. PMR is a 'line of sight' radio and even in that case a couple of km /miles is plenty. Beware: any obstacles in the way and the range just might suddenly drop to almost nothing.
Me and my wife were surprised to find how quickly the 'radio habit' became a second nature; our kayaking ways also changed a bit since quick communication was now at our fingertips. Not having the radio clipped to the PFD soon felt strangely awkward and even slightly uncomfortable. However, after a while it became very clear to us that the close encounters with water were slowly killing our toy radios. Back to square one: proper marine radios or just skip the whole thing? We decided on the former, got our VHF-licences (yup, you need to do some studying in our neck of the woods) and purchased two Standard Radio HX870E marine radios; see my separate post here.
In summary: the Topcom 9500 is okay for leisurely activities, weighs almost nothing, is really tiny, has pretty good battery life and decent audio as well. Build quality is good considering the price. As to the transmission range: your mileage will definitely vary but over a short distance, without any obstacles, it works fine. Forget about marine use though!
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It took me way too long to make it easy to raise and lower my kayak that normally, when off duty, is hanging from the garage ceiling. I can pretty much always get some assistance when I need to get the kayak up or down but it's also great to be able to do this on my own - hassle free, more or less. The very reasonably priced solution I chose to try is the Attwood kayak hoist; also sold as MrHardware, RAD Sportz, Dragon Kayak and probably several other brands as well but the basic rope construction with pulleys seems identical.
The hardware in the kit is robust and the (long) rope seems okay as well; that's definitely a good thing but note that there is no proper block and tackle arrangement that would take care of the heavy lifting behind the scenes. Be prepared to use quite a bit of muscle and body weight to lift the load! The not-so-good manual says you can lift up to 120 lbs (54 kg) but I wouldn't go higher than, say, 80 lbs in order to feel comfortable with the strain applied to the ropes and the ceiling brackets. See to it that the included heavy duty bolts are screwed all the way in solid wood when fastening the ceiling attachment - otherwise you might end up in very serious trouble.
I had a hard time trying to figure out just exactly how to route the rope though the pulley system and it seems I'm not the only one. Luckily, there is a great YouTube video that shows exactly how this is done; you should find it here.
In case your kayak is not an extreme heavy weight, the hoist should perform roughly as advertised. However, using the included load 'hooks' makes it impossible to get the kayak all the way up. This was not an option for me so I removed the hooks and now my modification allows me to get my boat really close to the ceiling.
Still, I don't quite trust the hoist enough to let my kayak rest on the rope-and-pulley system all winter so I have my old support straps taking the kayak weight when the hoist is not in use.
How cool is this kayak hoist, then? I'd say that the Attwood (or whatever) kayak hoist is definitely not extremely cool but, in most cases, it gets the job done - on a budget.
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I have been enjoying sea kayaking, or actually kayak island hopping - thanks solely to the superb initiative, way back in time, from my wife and super cool kayaking buddy! - for many years but it never even crossed my mind, to consider mounting a sail on my kayak. Kayaking is all about paddling; why on earth would I want to mess things up with a sail? A sea kayak is definitely not a sailboat!
So, years rolled by and I was still paddling my trusty age-old North Shore Calypso: extremely well built in the UK, very seaworthy, super comfortable, very safe - and kind of slow. Not that I'm in a hurry when on the water but those modern kayaks just seemed to - almost effortlessly, when observing the one in the cockpit - float away from me. I sure wasn't getting any younger and stronger so perhaps it was time to get something new. I might need a bigger boat! And yes, that's paraphrasing a movie tagline; you can see what I mean here...
Close to present
Some research followed and I got especially interested in the long (585 cm = 19,2 ft) and apparently fast Skim Distance. A very cool touring kayak, it seemed; there was just one obvious drawback: the price tag. After all, I had a perfectly well functioning kayak and when you have a brand new one, it's always such a hassle if you get it scratched or banged up a bit. Sounds like I had a hard time, making up my mind? That's putting it mildly.
One day, I was - once again - checking kayak related stuff on the web and somehow I happened to notice a post about a Finnish(!) guy who had bought a FalconSails kit, installed it in his Distance and was now thoroughly enjoying kayaking with a wind booster. The next step was to move on to the FalconSails site, get in touch with Patrick Forrester there and very soon I was hooked. Shoot, I had already modified my Calypso a bit so drilling some additional holes wouldn't matter that much. Done deal, I ordered my kayak sail kit!
Installing and testing
When my FalconSails kit arrived, I noticed right away that it was for real - not something hastily thrown together for show only. The quality of the materials seemed very good and the kit was complete in a way that was really impressive. Every nut, bolt and line was also neatly packaged and clearly labeled; something that I appreciated a lot. The instructions that accompanied the kit were extensive and well written so I felt I should be able to manage - even though my DIY skills are nothing to brag about.
It turned out that I possibly should have read the instructions more carefully than I did; I mailed Patrick quite a few times about my installation woes and I must say he was very patient and always answered my questions promptly. I took my time but, in the end, everything was set for the first trial and it sure was an exhilarating experience. Everything worked fine; however, I decided to add the (optional) back stays and that was a wise move - after that the rig has been rock solid even on really windy days.
Looking back - and forward
It's full winter now in January on my home turf - temperature sometimes goes down to, say -30C (= -22F) or so - and there's definitely no open water available anywhere close! Next time I'll be in my kayak again will probably be in May and then - with water temperature just slightly above freezing - I'll also be wearing my (very light weight) Ursuit MPS dry suit.
I have been learning more and more about paddle sailing during the past three summers and here are some of the key points:
The Falcon sail does not change the paddling characteristics of my Calypso when the rig is down; it's still the very same sea kayak and the rig is out of the way - tucked in just by the cockpit. When I have the sail up, the boom and the sail hardly restrict my paddle strokes at all which is great. The skeg works very well when using the sail.
I started testing the rig in very light breeze, as recommended, and that's smart for sure. Slowly, I have gained more confidence and the rig has performed flawlessly even when the wind has picked up quite a bit. In steady breeze, I get an amazing boost from the sail and I always keep paddling along; something you have to do on a big wind day in order to brace instantaneously when an unexpected gust suddenly fully powers up the sail. Gusty wind is the worst!
After some practice, I find it fairly easy to control the kayak when using the sail. In heavy wind - providing it's not gusty! - I'm fine by using the paddle a lot, often skimming the wave tops with the paddle and supporting the kayak. Kind of a flexible outrigger, it works surprisingly well.
Falcon is not only a downwind sail and that's really cool. Actually, I prefer having the wind more from the side. Of course, there's no point in having the sail up in headwind; no sail can magically transform a sea kayak to a sailboat.
The kit is designed to be used with an (optional) boom vang to keep the boom down and thus increasing the sail efficiency. It does make a difference but also makes things much more complicated. Forget about the boom vang when you're just getting started.
Getting the rig in place before kayak launch is easy and takes perhaps ten minutes. I want to be careful, not to get the lines sandy so I'm probably slower than most folks though! Launching the sail on the water is very quick; depowering it, taking down the rig and fastening the whole shebang takes a couple of minutes only.
In my view it's definitely a smart move, to take down the rig well in advance before getting very close to land - I almost got knocked over once by a mean, sudden gust extremely close to the beach! No more showing off for my part...
Famous last(?!) words
Adding a small sail to a sea kayak increases the fun factor enormously and also makes it possible to cover much longer distances, weather permitting. However, the sail also adds complexity and thereby increases the risk; there is no way getting away from this fact. There is an excellent and very comprehensive OPM article about using a sail on kayak expeditions, written by an Australian sea kayaking pro Rob Mercer, and you can find the text here. Some parts of the article definitely also apply to a fair weather kayaker like me.
Transforming a kayak into a fun sailboat-of-sorts - with a huge sail and all the hardware that comes with the deal - is possible but nothing I ever considered. My main interest is still in paddling my sea kayak and keeping things as simple as possible on the water. My Falcon sail is just about as far as it gets! In addition, I often tour the outer archipelago of my home waters where quick weather changes are frequent. Getting stuck out there in a kayak-turned-into-a-sailboat with unfavorable winds (or dead calm) would definitely be a real bummer. I'm pretty sure that trying to paddle that thing home would be a nightmare.
There is a, at the time of this writing, still new (private) Facebook group that focuses both on kayak and canoe sails and everything connected to that: Kayak And Canoe Sailing. If you only want to focus on kayaks, there's now also the Kayak Sailing group (group owner is Patrick from Falcon Sails). I'm A Bad Facebook User myself and the groups are to me the best feature of this social media behemoth - and pretty much the only thing that keeps me from deleting my account.
I do find it interesting that during my kayaking years I have never seen another kayak in the Nordic waters sporting a 'real' kayak sail (umbrellas, sure!). However, this discovery might be connected to the fact that there are altogether only some 10 million people living in Sweden - and kayaking wintertime is not an option in my neck of the woods!
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Luckily, I rarely need to load and unload my (old and heavy!) Calypso on my own but sometimes it's the only way to go in order to get out there on the water. I find it way too easy to mess something up when loading or unloading; either myself - my back often reminds me that I'm not very young any more - or the car, or the kayak. So, when some fellow kayakers discussed this very issue and mentioned the Boat Roller I decided to check it out.
It's a very simple construction that attaches to the rear car window with suction cups that seem to be reasonably powerful. Then, it should be easier to push the kayak up to the roof rack from behind the car.
I haven't tried this thing yet - temperature dropped down to -30C = -22F so I preferred staying in the garage instead of test loading my kayak outdoors! However, the weather is milder now; soon our neighbours will be wondering if I've finally gone completely nuts, considering the fact that Bothnian Bay (in Swedish: Bottenviken) is frozen solid.
UPDATE: Yup, I've tried to roll my boat and this thing works alright. Just see to it that both the car window and the suction cups are clean!
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When you get used to it, being able to contact your kayaking buddy even when there's quite a stretch of water between you two, there's no going back to sea kayaking without a radio. A cell phone just doesn't cut it - even though it's a great backup device, you can never be sure there's network coverage available when you need it the most. Cell phones are also quite simply not built to cope with the punishment of marine use, regardless of their IP-rating - not to mention the problems when trying to swipe or tap a wet touch screen..
It took me a long time to even consider adding a radio to the kayaking equipment list but some years ago, inspired by a kayaking incident in Norway, I bought two cheap 'toy' radios that me and my wife used for a while. Then, of course, those radios got enough of the close encounters with water - just when we had got used to them! So, there was a decision to make: should we go all in or just forget about this radio thing? Well, we went all in: now we both have a marine VHF radio certificate and a Standard Radio HX870E marine VHF handheld that floats (it really does, we tried it).
I have put together a comprehensive Google doc about the pros and cons of our radios - you'll find it here - but, generally, the very topmost plus points are these:
A VHF radio enables you to communicate directly with any vessel at sea (basically line of sight communication), both small and the really big ones!
HX870E is built for marine use and it's fine even if it gets completely submerged
HX870E has one-button digital distress signal capacity; again, that means being able to reach the VHF stations within roughly line of sight
On the minus side, I'd say that the very fast battery drain - when using 6W high output - is one of my my main gripes. However, normally we never use the high output setting when only communicating between our two kayaks.
A VHF radio is extremely cool and the HX870E gets a good rating from me. More battery capacity would be great but I'd guess a larger battery would also mean saying bye-bye to a radio that floats. Two related issues that bug me quite a bit are that there is no way to charge the unit without the cradle - and no way to charge the battery if it's not inserted in the radio. It sure would be nice to leave the cradle at home when packing for a kayaking trip.
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Way too many years passed before I - at long last - managed to take action and get a 'rescue' knife that's always within reach, attached to my PFD vest, when paddling my (old!) sea kayak. I chose the NRS Co-Pilot knife; a very small but surprisingly capable tool that also serves just fine in everyday outdoors life. So, you can definitely stay firmly on the ground or play in the waves and most probably you'll find great use for this knife that seems to be quite different from most of the other offerings in this category.
The knife is tiny - total length only 5.75" (14,6 cm) - and that is great to me since I try to avoid having bulky gear attached to my vest; my VHF radio actually is more than enough! The blunt tip of the short Co-Pilot blade is tough and can also serve as an emergency screwdriver; the blade has both a sharp and a serrated part. I find it easy to get a good hold of the rubberised handle that does have a couple of additional tricks up its sleeve!
A very smart part of the Co-pilot knife package is the sheath that holds the knife firmly in place, until you squeeze both sides simultaneously for a quick release. Super important feature - especially in a kayak or, actually, in any emergency - so that you both know the knife won't fall off on its own and you can instantaneously grab and use it with one hand only.
The Co-pilot knife is very cool and serves exactly the way it's supposed to. The sheath of my knife has taken some beating during the years but it still functions okay; the blade itself is just fine even though you need to clean off some rust stains from time to time (well, there is also a titanium version available!). This tiny and extremely useful piece of kit comes with a warm recommendation from me.
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This was my very first test sail - and the very light breeze was just fine! [Update: see Part 2 of my FalconSail experiences, from 2020, here!]
My 30-year-old North Shore Calypso is still kinda cool but it's the brand new FalconSails kayak rig that makes it super cool! The kit is complete with the sail, a carbon fibre mast and boom, all the stays and hardware needed and very thorough installation instructions. Huge kudos also to the great and very patient support from Patrick at Falcon!
The rig is very well crafted and the the whole concept apparently carefully proven to match the construction; this is not just some DIY stuff hastily thrown together in a garage. The complete rig takes just a couple of minutes to get ready and fold down before launching the kayak and it's even quicker to raise - and lower - the mast and the sail when out on the water and sitting in the cockpit.
The test sail is now done and boy, was it fun! I was expecting a slightly hairy experience but my Calypso sailed amazingly smoothly and I had no problems compensating the pull of the sail with my body weight (guess that might suggest something about my own personal stats but, actually, I'm far from being an extreme heavy weight). When the wind picked up, I was easily cruising roughly my normal kayaking pace - even when taking a quick break from paddling altogether! The really über-cool part is that you can definitely also sail upwind, almost like in a normal (very) small sailing boat. The adjustable skeg is great also when using the sail.
Summing up I can say that Falcon has one happy customer here in the very northern Sweden. It will take some time to learn all the tricks of the paddle sailing trade but I'm already looking forward to that. Most of the time the boom and the sail is out of the way for my paddle strokes so, with favorable winds, I sure can increase my (slow) paddling speed quite a bit - or save some strength for those tough future headwinds!
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[UPDATE]This tiny stove has been serving us well for sometime now; basically the only gripe I have is the fact that it is really easy to burn off the lower part of the handle strip, since it readily folds down very close to the burner. See the close-up here. A word of caution to the new owner would definitely have been great and an easy way to stop this from happening[UPDATE]
Fixing food outdoorscan be tons of fun but sometimes you just want to get it over with - fast. The best camping stove I've ever had is the tiny PrimusLitePlus; it's lightning fast for bringing water to a boil but the really Cool(?!) thing is that it also works just fine for actually cooking or warming up food since the flame is highly adjustable (beats JetBoil I've heard!).
Several smart solutions make this rocket stove even better - for example, there are three 'screws' tucked away in the handle (strangely, not visible in the pic from Primus shop) that make it possible to use a frying pan on top of the stove (do not try it without the screws in place) Very nice! Just make sure you don't lose those screws.. A drop of medium strength Loctite might be a very good idea.
The whole package is, of course, extremely compact - including the gas that you pack within the stove itself - and this thing functions amazingly well even when there's a bit of a breeze.
Very cool - indeed, you don't burn your fingers when grabbing the mug even though the stuff inside gets very hot! - and highly recommended. Check it out on the manufacturer's site.
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