This page gives a bit of detail about many of the products that are making the Archipaddlo Expedition possible. This is the gear we simply wouldn't leave home without!
Lots of little bags for lots of little things. Sea To Summit produce a comprehensive range of bags to fit all sorts of goodies. Our binoculars and wind meter will be safe in Sea To Summit Padded Pouches, small neoprene pouches perfect for this gear. We have Sea To Summit Cutlery Bags, Tent Pole Bags, TPU Map Cases and TPU Waterproof Accessory Cases.Our map cases conveniently strap to our spraydecks so we'll always be able to see where we are going. TPU accessory cases are perfect for small things that absolutely cannot get wet (easier said than done in a kayak for a year). Lots of small bags means we are organised in our boats - like a kayak shaped filing cabinet, and we are always able to find what we need quickly. Cutlery bags are a great way of keeping sharp and pointy things like the tines of a fork well away from the dry bags that are keeping all our gear safe and dry.
Kayaks don't have much storage space, certainly not for a 12 month expedition! Essential items that can compress to almost nothing are perfect for our needs. A couple of innovative designs that spring to mind are the Sea To Summit Ultra-sil Day Pack and the Sea To Summit Ultra-Sil Shopping Bag which both fold down to smaller than a kiwifruit. While we are not expecting to be shopping too often, these bags will come in handy for us in a thousand different ways.
Despite the fact that we'll be sitting under blankets of bright stars, we need lights to spotlight turtles crawling up the beach, and make sure the log of firewood we're collecting doesn't have teeth! Black Diamond Icon Headlamps are bright, flexible and comfortable. They have a strong beam and economical LEDs - the perfect headlamp for a year spent outdoors. Our campsite will be lit up by a Black Diamond Apollo Lantern which offers a bright, diffused light to give our campsite a comforting glow, and give the insects something to aim for. Both lights share a convenient rechargeable battery system.
To even begin our expedition we need to transport our kayaks and all our gear from Port Stephens NSW to Cairns. For this section of our journey we will be using a couple of Solution products. The Solution Road Trip Neoprene Cockpit Cover will protect the cockpit and massively improve our fuel efficiency for the long drive to Cairns. Our boats will be strapped to the roof with Solution Traveller Soft Racks, flexible but sturdy roof racks that can strap down to any car (just don't tell the hire car company!).
To extend our valuable storage space and create a "glove box" for our most important gear we are strapping Solution Access Deck Bags to the decks of our kayaks. These nifty deck bags have an internal dry bag and external bungees and attachment points - places to stick all the gear we'll need in a hurry on a daily basis. They are aerodynamic so even though they raise the deck profile, these deck bags will not catch too much wind.
When we say, "we're paddling from Cairns to Bali" it means we have to have seriously awesome paddles. The Solution Helium Carbon Paddles are simply the best possible option to make sure that we can cover the 8000+km. We are each taking two of these paddles (one spare each) which are set on a smart shaft so we have control over the length of the paddle and the feather angle. The carbon paddle is feather light to ease the strain on our joints and muscles. So that we don't lose them, our paddles will be attached to our kayaks with a Solution Pigsy Paddle Leash.
Because storage space in a kayak is at a premium, Sea To Summit have cleverly created the Big River Tapered Dry Sack (35L). Our dehydrated food has been carefully rationed into weekly supplies and most of it is stuffed into the fiddly ends of our kayak hatches inside these super tough dry bags. These bags are also holding longer items like the tent and the hammocks (which have tent poles).
Our first form of shelter is the Wilderness Equipment Overhang. Made of ultralight siliconised 30D nylon, these high-tech tarps will keep the sun off our campsites, the wind out of our hair, and the rain pouring into our water containers.
We are using three tarps - one large tarp (4.5m x 3m) for our campsite and rain capture. We'll direct the rain of our 'tin roof' into a Sea To Summit Folding Bucket (10L) or into a Sea To Summit Pocket Shower and then pour our bounty into one of our many Sea To Summit Pack Tap water bags (we have enough bags to carry 44L each!).The two medium Wilderness Equipment tarps (3m x 3m) are for our custom built hammocks, and backups for our campsite.
Sea To Summit are clearly the world leader in dry bag technology, and we'll be relying on plenty of different dry bags to keep our gear dry during the Archipaddlo Expedition. Sea To Summit eVENT® Compression Dry Sacks and Evac Dry Sacks are great for squeezing out the last valuable breaths of air from soft articles like clothing or sleeping bags. Sea To Summit Big River Dry Bags are tough as nails, cleverly designed with an oval base so they don't roll down the beach, and have tie-down attachment points that will allow us to store them on the deck if need be.
We are using Sea To Summit Dry Sack Light in a big range of sizes and their bright colours will allow us to rapidly recognise what we have stored inside, like a kayak-shaped filing cabinet. We are using many small dry bags rather than just a few large ones as this will make sure we can pack the boats easily and in the unlikely event that we haven't sealed a bag properly only a small amount of gear will get wet.
For years we have been paddling with Solution Eclipse spray decks, a fully neoprene model that has kept both our sea and surf kayaks afloat in even the most ferocious conditions. The close fitting neoprene is just a little too hot for the tropics so we are taking the Solution Passage Flexi-Fit Nylon spraydecks to give us protection from the waves and the sun, while preventing our cockpits from heating up like a sauna. These are comfortable, flexible and even have practical attachments like bungee gear loops to attach goodies across the front of the deck.
While a kayak doesn't quite have the storage space for a soft, reclining armchair, we have the next best thing. Our Pacific Outdoor Equipment Stretch Base Chairs will be the height of luxury on a coral cay, staring at the sunset. These chairs are a strong, comfortable design that is flexible enough to press down into our hatches, or even to use as cushioning while we are paddling.
We spent a lot of time considering our accommodation. We are not going to have the option to check into the closest youth hostel when the weather turns sour, so we needed a bombproof shelter, capable of standing up to whatever beating the tropical storms can dish out. We also needed a tent in which we'll be comfortable in the extreme sweaty heat of equatorial swamps.Enter the Black Diamond Vista Tent - the perfect solution for Archipaddlo. This tent is roomy enough for us to sleep comfortably without sticking together in the humidity. With two spacious vestibules and an inner largely made of noseeum mesh, the breeze will waft through and the sandflys will be wondering what's going on. We are also taking the optional Black Diamond Vista Tent Footprint to help keep us separated from the soggy ground below. At under 3kg this tent certainly won't sink the boats, and I look forward to riding out plenty of thunderstorms in our waterfront mansion.
It might seem strange to be taking a sleeping bag to the tropics but life isn't always going to be palm trees and cocktails! For the nights when the mercury does drop that little bit further than normal we'll be wrapped up tightly in our Sea To Summit Thermolite Reactor Extreme bags. Technically a 'booster' bag that is designed to add warmth to a sleeping bags, we are relying on the Reactor alone to act as a lightweight sleeping bag. Being filled with synthetic insulation (Thermolite®) means that even if these bags get soaking wet they will still keep us warm - a definite plus in a tropical thunderstorm! While we are talking comfort, nobody would consider travelling for a year without a soft and comfy pillow. We will rest our weary heads on Sea To Summit Travel Pillows which are just about the most luxurious item that is being squeezed into our boats.
For the nights when the tropics do what you expect - stay oppressively muggy and sweaty, we'll be comfortable in our Sea To Summit Silk Cotton Liners. Again, designed more for slipping inside a sleeping bag, these bags will be perfect for keeping us comfortable. We have each packed a double-sized sheet that has been modified so that it is a 3/4 width to give us extra wriggling room, and the extra fabric stitched to the top to create a sleeve to slot the top of our mattresses.We'll be wearing some of the unbelievably versatile Buff Headwear® products to tame our scruffy hair and to mop up some of the tropical sweatiness we are bound to endure.
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| Buff® High UV - Dorado |
We'll be wearing the High UV Buff gear in crazy colours like this dorado pattern - lets hope it helps us to catch one! We'll also take with us Buff Evo 2 Visors which share the features of the original Buff design, but tucked into a neat reversible cap with the added benefit of a small neoprene peak to keep some of the rays off.
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| GME Accusat MT410G PLB |
Perhaps the most valuable article of gear we'll have with us during the Archipaddlo expedition is our trusty GME Accusat Pocket Pro+ MT410G Personal Locator Beacons (PLBs).
While we hope to never use one, in the unlikely event that we need to be rescued these life-saving devices are our first and last line of defence. With the simple flick of a switch satellites can pinpoint our location to within about 100m, and alert Search and Rescue authorities to our predicament.
The rugged, buoyant, waterproof design provides 7 years of battery life, a bright LED strobe, and at only 250 grams, this is one life-saver we can't afford to leave behind.
Working as a SAR aircrewman, Lain has relied upon the GME Accusat MT410G in the rescue chopper - that is as good a recommendation as we could hope for.
Who needs life insurance? I have a PLB!
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| GME GX620 VHF Radio |
To make Archipaddlo a success we'll need to communicate! Our GME GX620 Hand Held Marine VHF Transceiver is a feature-packed and innovative tool to help us keep in touch with the world around us.
Specifically designed for small craft like kayaks, this compact 3Watt VHF radio has most of the features of a much larger unit - 16 channel access, dual and triple watch, channel scan, large, clear backlit LCD, and logical backlit buttons.
Equipped with a carry case and a simple 'drop in' charger, now all we need is a power source!! (More on that later.) We'll be relying on the GME GX620 to receive regular weather reports and to keep in contact with vessels and ports that we pass along the way.
We'll be using Pacific Action Sails on our kayaks to help haul the heavy loads we'll have with us over more than 8000km of waterways.Our boats will be fitted with the new Hi Viz 1.0 square metre sails from Pacific Action. These incredible sails are easy to fit to the boat, very quick to raise and collapse, and store neatly on the deck of the boat.
With these sails in place we'll be able to make the most of favourable wind conditions when they arise, and ease the load on our weary paddling arms. Bring on the wind!!
Cooper Anchors have designed an innovative plastic anchor specifically for use with small craft like kayaks. Weighing in at just 1kg, and with a clever design that rapidly sets and holds to the sea bed, our kayaks will be secure whenever we need.
We'll be anchoring in mudflats, on reefs and sandy shores and we'll be relying on these Cooper Anchors to make sure our kayaks are still in the same spot when we wake up each morning.
Our trusty kayaks are Mission Eco Bezhig boats. We have paddled these boats for several years and find them comfortable, roomy and durable - what more could you ask for? We have decided on plastic over glass boats and while we accept that this might slow us down a little, we're happy with the security of knowing we can rapidly scrape our heavily laden boats over some coral beach as dusk un-settles our slightly nervous crocodile sensors!
Stay tuned for more gear-freak stuff soon.
