Gear

I don't know about everyone else, but I have a hard time justifying paying $100 or more for a pair of sunglasses. Since lenses tend to scratch easily, even the ones that supposedly have anti-scratch coatings, after a while you just can't see anything any more.

So while I usually walk right by the $10 sunglass racks at CVS, I can find decent sunglasses for $20 or so at JC Penney or similar stores. I finally decided that I wanted a pair of polarized glasses to cut down on the glare, but the only problem is that it's hard to find a good pair of polarized glasses in the "cheap sunglasses" price range, until now.

Last year Barbara and I were shopping for snorkelling gear to take on our honeymoon, so we stopped by a local dive shop (called, appropriately, The Dive Shop) and I noticed a rack of polarized sunglasses on the wall called Dive Shades. Their prices were very reasonable at around $30, and I liked their Mediterranean model so I bought a pair. They were so good that after a couple of days I pretty much retired all of my remaining old sunglasses. So if you're looking for a very good pair of polarized sunglasses at a very reasonable price, check out Dive Shades or one of their resellers.

The remaining issue is whether you can actually take these shades kayaking. For sea kayaking, the answer is a definite yes because the sunglasses will help protect your eyes from wave reflections and will cut down on glare. For whitewater, the answer is mixed. The problem I've always had with wearing sunglasses with whitewater is that they tend to fog up really easily after a couple of rolls, especially if you have warm air with colder water. I've tried everything I could think of and whatever anyone else suggested: spit, toothpaste, dive mask defogger, and so on. It just washes away. At this point I've just stopped wearing sunglasses for whitewater activities because I like to be able to see what I'm doing, but a good solution to the fogging problem would certainly be welcome.

As the water was getting colder back in November, I started noticing that the sleeves of my drytop were starting to get a bit damp, to the point where it was getting somewhat uncomfortable to continue playing for long periods of time. It's a known fact that the DWR (durable water repellency) wears off after a while, and my drytop is now about 4 years old so I figured that could be it.

After looking into the cost of getting a new drytop, I decided to try revitalizing what I already had to see if I could extend its life. After all I had just spent $40 already on a new neck gasket, so I figured I might as well get some use out of it.

I did a little research on google and found that everyone seemed to be recommending the Nikwax Tx-Direct wash-in waterproofing treatment. The drytop is Gore-Tex, and the Nikwax treatment is designed to work with all breathable fabrics of this type. For non-breathable drytops perhaps a spray-on treatment should also be considered.

I went over to REI and picked up a bottle of the Tx-Direct as well as the Nikwax Tech Wash, total cost under $20. The treatment consists of washing the drytop first in the washing machine with the Tech Wash, then washing it again with the Tx-Direct. You need to let the Tx-Direct soak into the fabric for some number of minutes after the washer has filled, otherwise you just set the heavy wash cycle and let it run. The only other thing to keep in mind is that you can't put the drytop in the dryer if it has latex gaskets, so I did a combination of warm-iron and blow-dryer to activate the DWR.

I was skeptical at first, but I am happy to say that the waterproofing treatment worked like a charm and I was able to stay quite dry in 40-degree water. So if you're considering getting a new drytop, you can save some money by trying the Nikwax treatment first.

There are two common schools of though on digital camera gear.

1. Compact, light, small zoom
   
2. Not so compact or light, big zoom

The type of camera you buy really depends on what you want kinds of situations you're likely to get yourself into. One thing to consider is that SLR-type digital cameras are often going to be more expensive than the compact and light variety, so that's one thing to consider. On the other hand if you've just spent $3,000 on a new kevlar sea kayak, maybe it's not too much to drop another grand on a camera.

I'm nowhere near being a professional photographer, but I've learned a thing or two about cameras over the years, so here are my top choices for paddlers:

In the compact and light category, I bought a Pentax Optio 43WR. This camera is classified as "Class 7 Water Resistant" so it can be submerged but not operated underwater. I took this thing on our honeymoon, so it's been in a river, in the jungle, and in the ocean and it came through with flying colors. It takes great 4MP photos as long as you can deal with the fact that it only has a 2.8x optical zoom. There were a couple of times when I really wished it had a mega-zoom lens, but given that limitation and the price (under $300) it is a great deal. I've also taken this camera out on the Potomac, set it up on a mini-tripod, and used its time-lapse feature to take photos of my surf session. Very nice.

In the SLR-type category, Barbara and I are seriously considering getting a Nikon Coolpix 8800. It's an 8MP camera with a 10x optical zoom and vibration reduction, and by many measures this is the camera to beat in the fixed-lens prosumer category. We've looked at this camera in the store and it is darn impressive. It's just under $1000 retail, but you should be able to find it for much less if you shop around online. Just be prepared to spend some extra money on memory cards and batteries. There are too many features to list, but if you can deal with non-interchangeable lenses then this camera is definitely worth a look. Of course for protecting this camera on the water I would highly recommend either an appropriately sized Pelican case, or even better the new Aquapac SLR camera case ($120). I don't have one of these so I don't know how good the plastic lens is or how much it's going to affect the final pictures, but it seems to be one of the few options for SLR-type cameras at the moment. Don't forget to get a microfiber lens cloth and keep it in a zip-lock bag; you will need for when you get spray on your lens.