peteg wrote:

While I sympathize with the parents on their son's death, I have to question
why a paddler with this much experience and paddling very hard runs like the
ones mentioned above (by the way Jacobs Ladder isn't 5++) was wearing a
Protec helmet. Anyone with any experience should know that there are other
helmets on the market which are more suitable for expert kayaking...

Which helmets are these?

Aside from Mike Fentress design with facemask, now unavailable,
I haven't seen any kayaking helmets that impress me a whole lot.
Many of them look like retro Hell's Angel's motorcycling helmets
with limited coverage.