Lord Byron had a lot of luggage
He took it when he traveled far and wide
He didn’t get to bathe very often
But he liked to change his clothes all the time
-warren zevon

Do I really have to think about gear? September is a long way off at the moment but that does not mean I don’t have to start taking a bit of inventory. For the most part over the years you collect all the gear you need for a few weeks on the water. Still, over time things break, fall apart or get left in far off lands and need to be replaced. No one wants to paddle in the shadow of the “Paps” without proper gear.

First of all traveling with all your gear can get expensive. Don’t be fooled, all the noise we make about lighter paddles has nothing to do with paddling… it’s simply about cost of carrying them on the plane! (that’s a joke… I think…). It’s true though that if you start packing up paddles, radios, pfds and all the rest you burn your allotment pretty quickly. In fact when I came back from Israel I left some old gear behind that I had planned to replace this year. That left me room to bring back some rocks and sand… It’s also great to know that almost anywhere in the world you may choose to paddle, there are always other paddlers about who are more than happy to support you in any way they can. Chances are someone is always there to offer you a VHF, or sometimes even a kayak. So all in all you must balance what you will take and what you will beg, borrow and steal with what you need and what you may simply feel a personal attachment too. I think most of us want our own cozy PFD and our familiar tow rope and paddle at the very least.

You also have to think about where you’re going. I’ve spent a lot of time in the last couple years in warmer climates, but I’m from Wisconsin and know what cold is too. The UK of course has its own special “to the bone” cold. That has much more to do with cloudy days and soppy ocean air than it does with actually temperature. In addition the water in Scotland will be cold. No one is going to want to spend much time swimming. Put it all together and that means lots of wicking garments and a good drysuit.

So in the end after browsing through everything I have and checking off what I can beg, borrow or steal, looking at what I need anyway I’ve ended up with a short list. I need a new PFD,  A  skirt, a new tow rope, a hand held compass and couple bits of wicking garb. Otherwise I’m stocked. I have fantasies about a new lighter weight black drysuit but my old Palm is serviceable. I’ve a little paddle quandary to settle but I’ll figure that out between now and then. In the end that’s not too bad. I don’t have to take out a second mortgage.

Did I mention the kayak? Well, that’s a story for another day.

* Image © Copyright Steve Partridge and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

Related Posts:

1. long one – Paddles pt. 1
2. Suspended in Gaffa
3. tough enough
4. A Leap Once Leapt
5. served with “neeps and nips”