Buying a helmet

[Sara]

If I was buying a new helmet I'd probably go for one of these
http://www.shredready.com/products/shaggy.html
I think cheesy has one, they had two dial things at the back that you turn to make the helmet fit nice and snugly to your head. Also good coverage and the peak is good for face and nose protection.

Sara

[kjt]

I was thinking of going for this ?

I've seen a few in the club with em

[kmck]

I think Ollie and Joxer use them. Ollie is under ollitrix I think on the wesite if you want to pm him.

[JODY]

I think Cian has one of those but i could be wrong!

[Sara]

the river sunner is a similar style with more back of head coverage, i'd go for that over the skook.

Sara

[kjt]

Yea I'm torn between the two. Will probably go for the more coverage.

Thanks for ALL the advice ppl

[Asho87]

Get Joey's one!!! Cow print!!

[Jim]

Some more info for you...

I have the one Sara mentioned http://www.shredready.com/products/shaggy.html which also has the advantage that you can wear it frontwards or backwards depending on where you want the peak. Great stuff. Disclosure - I got mine for free.

Simon has the http://www.shredready.com/products/fullmental.html which has really good coverage.

It's all about the coverage really and forgetting about the cool-looking freestyle dude ones. Also, in my opinion, go composite rather than plastic, although beware that 'composite' just means a mix of plastic and fibreglass, without specifying ratios.

Jim.

[Jim]

WRSi are great. White water Reasearch and Safety Institute. It is a safety institute that is associated with John Hopkins Research Centre.

Hey Bex, don't believe everything you read on the interweb. These guys are about as valid an institute as the club, eh, wait that sounds wrong. Anyway, they're very controversial, try looking them up on Boatertalk. That said everyone says the helmets are good, but the back story is not as simple as their website says.

Why are you on the internet so much - is Uganda really rubbish or something? You're missing all the water here.

And another thing, in general...

Lots of folks buy helmets that initially give good coverage and then wear skullcaps under them, resulting in poorer coverage on the forehead. This seems to be particularly true of the trendy freestyle helmets. Watch out for that.

Jim.

Jim.

[joey]

Id say get the Happy 2b river helmet!! i have the skook and it leaves a lot of the back of the head exposed! i have my trusty old pro tec for running any rivers i think ill be upside down on alot!
And just bout the WRSI helmet, its a really nice helmet and reminds me of the helmets the batters wear in baseball, but the son of the couple that set it up was wearing a protec, but as far as i know it was a protec that should have been returned to the manufacturers as that batch were recalled for safety reasons!. Joey

[Jim]

Not quite Joey. This is exactly the bad information going around the web for a few years now about ProTec. The WRSI people put up a website calling themselves a safety institute and calling for a recall of ProTec helmets, which they blamed for their son's death. ProTec didn't recall their helmets and nothing was ever shown to be wrong with ProTec helmets.

It's nasty marketing. I mean it's terrible that someone died, but it's never been shown to be ProTec's fault. If you search around for this, the only source of this 'recall' is WRSI's website. For this reason, I wouldn't touch WRSI helmets.

Jim.

[joey]

THat sounds a bit more like it alright!! Sure i have a protec and its great!! no need to spend hundreds on a helmet!! they are a great fit and look nice! nad in Great outdoors they are E99.99!! cant beat that!! nad just for u KJT i will knock 10% of that price!!!

[kmck]

Depends on how you tighten the straps of the helmet. If you don't adjust it right it can be pushed off backwards or forwards. Adjust it so when it is on it doesn't move. In jodys case the rock came up and under the helmet from behing missing all the padding. This is why a full cut helmet is your best option. They won't look very stylish but they cover your whole head. Make sure it fits covers the vitals, the base of the spin as it hits the skull and your temples. If something hits these your out and maybe worse.
Simons is the nazi fun rafting special

Classic club model also covers the head

Kylies from the alps, he got a whack of the head and look still smiling

Alternatively where a wig and quickly put on a helmet mid flight

[Diarmaid]

is there much difference to your hearing between a full cut helmet and something more like a baseball cap? I really only ever wore the club helmets but I noticed that if I ever had a skullcap on it was all but impossible to hear, especially once water got in. does the same happen with the ear protection of the helmet itself? if I were ever to resume paddling and consider buying a helmet, I'd be very wary of ear protection for that reason.

[JODY]

Thats what signals are for stupid! Anyway most of the time you cant hear much over the noise of the water so i imagine it doesnt really matter if the helmet covers your ears.... unless youre just out on the Boyne for a chat or something?