Selecting a Helmet for Class II Water
 

I'm basically a flat water paddler but am extending my horizons to class II.
Maybe III some distant day in the future. III will be my limit. Any
suggestions on a suitable helmet for II?

Wayne T. Watson (Watson Adventures, Prop., Nevada City, CA)
(121.015 Deg. W, 39.262 Deg. N) GMT-8 hr std. time)
Obz Site: 39° 15' 7" N, 121° 2' 32" W, 2700 feet
--

"I have made a ceaseless effort not to ridicule, not to bewail,
not to scorn human actions, but to understand them."
-—Baruch Spinoza
Web Page: home.earthlink.net/~mtnviews

Selecting a Helmet for Class II Water
 

Hi Wayne,

I wear a helmet with a face guard in all levels of ww that I paddle I - V.
My current helmet is a hockey helmet. Kissing a rock or tree can mess up
your face and teeth.

Al K

"W. Watson" wrote in message
k.net...
I'm basically a flat water paddler but am extending my horizons to class
II. Maybe III some distant day in the future. III will be my limit. Any
suggestions on a suitable helmet for II?

Wayne T. Watson (Watson Adventures, Prop., Nevada City, CA)
(121.015 Deg. W, 39.262 Deg. N) GMT-8 hr std. time)
Obz Site: 39° 15' 7" N, 121° 2' 32" W, 2700 feet
--

"I have made a ceaseless effort not to ridicule, not to bewail,
not to scorn human actions, but to understand them."
-—Baruch Spinoza
Web Page: home.earthlink.net/~mtnviews

Selecting a Helmet for Class II Water
 

I find the Grateful Heads composite helmets quite satisfactory. I had
one of their early designs, and it protected me from some hard hits on
Class III to V rapids. When Grateful Heads came out with the Darth
Vader-looking designs I got one of those, because the projection at the
back will protect my upper spine from many (though certainly not all)
possible hits, whereas the typical helmet protects only the cranium.

Please don't let anyone tell you that "helmet X is good enough for
Class II," or something like that. Rocks on a Class II river are just
as hard as rocks on a Class V river. You need a helmet, and you need
the best helmet you can find.

-Richard, His Kanubic Travesty
--
================================================== ====================
Richard Hopley Winston-Salem, NC, USA
.. rhopley[at]earthlink[dot]net
.. Nothing really matters except Boats, Sex, and Rock'n'Roll
.. rhopley[at]wfubmc[dot]edu
.. OK, OK; computer programming for scientific research also matters
================================================== ====================


W. Watson wrote:
I'm basically a flat water paddler but am extending my horizons to class II.
Maybe III some distant day in the future. III will be my limit. Any
suggestions on a suitable helmet for II?

Wayne T. Watson (Watson Adventures, Prop., Nevada City, CA)
(121.015 Deg. W, 39.262 Deg. N) GMT-8 hr std. time)
Obz Site: 39° 15' 7" N, 121° 2' 32" W, 2700 feet
--

"I have made a ceaseless effort not to ridicule, not to bewail,
not to scorn human actions, but to understand them."
--Baruch Spinoza
Web Page: home.earthlink.net/~mtnviews

Selecting a Helmet for Class II Water
 

W. Watson wrote:
I'm basically a flat water paddler but am extending my horizons to class
II. Maybe III some distant day in the future. III will be my limit. Any
suggestions on a suitable helmet for II?

Wayne T. Watson (Watson Adventures, Prop., Nevada City, CA)
(121.015 Deg. W, 39.262 Deg. N) GMT-8 hr std. time)
Obz Site: 39° 15' 7" N, 121° 2' 32" W, 2700 feet

Wayne, some tips:

Pushing a rock out of the way with your head on class II/III can be just
as painful as doing that on class IV... Get a good helmet.

-Decide on how much you want to spend on a helmet. (If you have a 20
dollar head, get a 20 dollar helmet. :-) )
-Look at what is available for that price, and try the helmet on.
Look especially at the straps: Does the strap try to strangle you if you
move the helmet forwards or backwards? If you can move it forward over
your forehead so that it doesn't cover the back of your skull, or if you
can move it backwards far enough to expose your forehead, leave it
alone! Some of the newer helmets come with very nice adjustable straps
that feel like the helmet is glued to your head.

Mind you, some helmets come with some foam so that you can outfit the
inside to fit your head better. The better the helmet fits your head,
the less work you have on outfitting it!

A helmet without drainage holes will protect your head better (stiffness
of the shell) and keep your head warmer. Personally I hate those holes,
because they let cold water in and my body heat out, but I also enjoy
paddling when it's freezing. I guess that it's warmer where you live, so
see what works for you.

A helmet that is made of kevlar or some other composite material will
generally be stiffer, thereby spreading the force of the blow to your
head over a bigger area, and it will usually need (a lot) more force
before deforming. A plastic helmet is more likely to deform locally and
in that case it will pass the energy on the point of impact almost
directly to the skull below it.

A helmet that has a decent layer of foam inside will have more distance
between your skull and the rock and it might absorb more of the energy
of the impact (depending upon the kind of foam used).

A helmet shaped like a baseball cap might look very fashionable, but it
usually lacks adequate protection on the sides and back, as well as
adding a visor that will yank your head back if it hits on something.
For very little money you can add a flexible (velcro'd on) visor to
almost any helmet.

I've had five different helmets over the years, two Roemer, one Prijon
Corsica, a Shred Ready Full Mental Jacket and for the last five years or
so, I've used a Grateful Heads Dropzone helmet to which I added the
visor and a face guard.

Some pictures he http://kayaker.nl/tips.html#Helmets

HTH

--
Wilko van den Bergh wilkoa t)dse(d o tnl
Eindhoven The Netherlands Europe
---Look at the possibilities, don't worry about the limitations.---
http://kayaker.nl/

Selecting a Helmet for Class II Water
 

For the sake of offering an opposing view...

Wilko wrote:
-Decide on how much you want to spend on a helmet. (If you have a 20
dollar head, get a 20 dollar helmet. :-) )

This one is very popular to state, but I'm not convinced it has any value.
For many whitewater helmets, the high price goes to support nice paint and
hand-made, small production runs. That doesn't translate to added safety.

Motorcyclist Magazine had an interesting article on the subject recently.
http://www.motorcyclistonline.com/ge...helmet_review/
While the helmets they examined are not suitable for whitewater, some
of the same observations probably apply.

A helmet that is made of kevlar or some other composite material will
generally be stiffer, thereby spreading the force of the blow to your
head over a bigger area, and it will usually need (a lot) more force
before deforming. A plastic helmet is more likely to deform locally and
in that case it will pass the energy on the point of impact almost
directly to the skull below it.

Kevlar is a fiber with a high tensile strength and low stretch. That
doesn't mean it doesn't deform easily. The epoxy or plastic used is largely
responsible for the shape holding characteristics. As far as the suitability
of (pure) plastics or composites, the Motorcyclist article found that a
cheap (in price) plastic helmet outperformed (transferred less energy) the
composites they tested.

Selecting a Helmet for Class II Water
 

Jeremy wrote:
For the sake of offering an opposing view...

Wilko wrote:
-Decide on how much you want to spend on a helmet. (If you have a 20
dollar head, get a 20 dollar helmet. :-) )

This one is very popular to state, but I'm not convinced it has any value.
For many whitewater helmets, the high price goes to support nice paint and
hand-made, small production runs. That doesn't translate to added safety.

That's not what I meant... For example, you can get an ACE "helmet" that
is supposedly designed for whitewater but that offers hardly any better
protection than a baseball cap for maybe 15 or 20 US$. You can also
invest a bit more (let's say 60 US$) and get a helmet that offers a lot
more protection than the ACE. I see no need to pay hundreds of dollars
for the most expensive models and brands, but there is definitely merit
in spending more than what gets you the cheapest helmets if you want
decent protection! (I think I paid 60 US$ for the Shred Ready helmet.)

Motorcyclist Magazine had an interesting article on the subject recently.
http://www.motorcyclistonline.com/ge...helmet_review/
While the helmets they examined are not suitable for whitewater, some
of the same observations probably apply.

The big problem with motorcycle helmets is that they are designed for
dealing with one massive blow after which they need to be replaced. One
flip in whitewater can easily give you a number of heavy blows,
preferably without the helmet failing after the first hit. I'm convinced
that requires a different design approach. Add the kind of contact for
which the helmet is designed (transferring energy when hitting a flat
surface like the asphalt at high speed, or hitting something sharp like
a rock with a lot less speed) and I think that we're talking about
apples and oranges here...

--
Wilko van den Bergh wilkoa t)dse(d o tnl
Eindhoven The Netherlands Europe
---Look at the possibilities, don't worry about the limitations.---
http://kayaker.nl/

Selecting a Helmet for Class II Water
 

Jeremy wrote:

Motorcyclist Magazine had an interesting article on the subject recently.
http://www.motorcyclistonline.com/ge...helmet_review/
While the helmets they examined are not suitable for whitewater, some
of the same observations probably apply.

Good article and I agree that their observations probably apply.

There is no official standard for whitewater helmets. The most commonly used
standard is CE 1385. That's a general purpose helmet standard discussed briefly
he http://kayakwiki.org/index.php/Helmet.

Mike

Selecting a Helmet for Class II Water
 

Wilko wrote:
Jeremy wrote:
For the sake of offering an opposing view...

Wilko wrote:
-Decide on how much you want to spend on a helmet. (If you have a 20
dollar head, get a 20 dollar helmet. :-) )

This one is very popular to state, but I'm not convinced it has any value.
For many whitewater helmets, the high price goes to support nice paint and
hand-made, small production runs. That doesn't translate to added safety.

That's not what I meant... For example, you can get an ACE "helmet" that
is supposedly designed for whitewater but that offers hardly any better
protection than a baseball cap for maybe 15 or 20 US$. You can also
invest a bit more (let's say 60 US$) and get a helmet that offers a lot
more protection than the ACE. I see no need to pay hundreds of dollars
for the most expensive models and brands, but there is definitely merit
in spending more than what gets you the cheapest helmets if you want
decent protection! (I think I paid 60 US$ for the Shred Ready helmet.)

That may not be what you meant, but it is the sentiment offered. NRS prices
the Ace at $39.95. Is it a better helmet than the $34.95 Ace Junior model?
Not as good as the $64.95 Wake? How does a $50 Cascade full coverage (not
sold by NRS) fit in? Does this heuristic get thrown off by clearance
sales?

And I do think that comparing an Ace to a baseball hat is a gross reduction.

Motorcyclist Magazine had an interesting article on the subject recently.
http://www.motorcyclistonline.com/ge...helmet_review/
While the helmets they examined are not suitable for whitewater, some
of the same observations probably apply.

The big problem with motorcycle helmets is that they are designed for
dealing with one massive blow after which they need to be replaced. One
flip in whitewater can easily give you a number of heavy blows,
preferably without the helmet failing after the first hit. I'm convinced
that requires a different design approach. Add the kind of contact for
which the helmet is designed (transferring energy when hitting a flat
surface like the asphalt at high speed, or hitting something sharp like
a rock with a lot less speed) and I think that we're talking about
apples and oranges here...

Again, SOME of the observations apply. I think that dismissing over fifty
years of development into a similar application is folly.

Selecting a Helmet for Class II Water
 

You CANNOT go wrong with grateful heads.....kevlar is the best, yer noggin
is worth it! A second choice and little known are the Protec SNOWBOARD
helmets, they have closed cell foam, full coverage, and removable ear flaps.
But Greatful heads or the equivelant is tops.


"W. Watson" wrote in message
k.net...
I'm basically a flat water paddler but am extending my horizons to class
II.
Maybe III some distant day in the future. III will be my limit. Any
suggestions on a suitable helmet for II?

Wayne T. Watson (Watson Adventures, Prop., Nevada City, CA)
(121.015 Deg. W, 39.262 Deg. N) GMT-8 hr std. time)
Obz Site: 39° 15' 7" N, 121° 2' 32" W, 2700 feet
--

"I have made a ceaseless effort not to ridicule, not to bewail,
not to scorn human actions, but to understand them."
-—Baruch Spinoza
Web Page: home.earthlink.net/~mtnviews

Selecting a Helmet for Class II Water
 

Grip wrote:
You CANNOT go wrong with grateful heads.....kevlar is the best, yer noggin
is worth it! A second choice and little known are the Protec SNOWBOARD
helmets, they have closed cell foam, full coverage, and removable ear flaps.
But Greatful heads or the equivelant is tops.

My Grateful Heads helmet has very adequately protected my grateful head
for many many hits in about 10 years of WW kayaking now, and except for
two parking lot hits every scratch in it is genuine WW action! And I
wear them all with pride too! :-)

Get a good helmet, you will NOT regret it!

John Kuthe...