Newport H2′s reviewed in Motor Boat & Yachting

Gareth    Clothing, Gareth, General Outdoor     Gareth, Keen, Motor Boat & Yachting, Newport H2's

We’ve just got a sneak peak from our friends at Motor Boat and Yachting about a review they have done on the Keen Newport H2′s. It’s coming out in next month’s magazine but Dave Marsh their technical editor has kindly sent us across an advance copy.

As a boater, I normally hate sandals. They often feel flimsy and unsupportive, and their soles rarely grip well. Most crucially of all, exposed toes are a liability on a boat. A single clumsy contact with a deck cleat can render you immobile for ages. Designed by an American sailor, Martin Keen, specifically for boating, I bought these Newport H2 sandals from Webtogs for one reason only; because the toe protection looked so sturdy. In practice, they’ve excelled in every area.

Mine are only two months old, so I can’t comment on their longevity yet. You might struggle to get into the Royal Yacht Squadron wearing sandals, but otherwise I can’t recommend these too highly. For day-to-day boating, I’d take these in preference to most deck shoes.

First blog by Helen Lloyd from ‘takeonafrica’

Gareth    Clothing, General Outdoor     africa, Colin, cycling, Helen, photography

Helen Lloyd is one determined woman, and we at webtogs are priveliged to help her out during her African adventure over the next couple of years. For an overview of Helen’s journey and to appreciate her simply wonderful photography go to www.takeonafrica.com

Out biking round Dorset a couple of weekends ago, making the most of the unusually hot, sunny weather and I’ve had a revelation. Two in fact.
Firstly, I can’t believe I’ve participated in high-energy sports all these years, without having discovered merino wool clothing! Busting a gut pedaling up the hills with sweat dripping out of every pore and my new Icebreaker top stayed practically dry. With the amount I sweat, that’s certainly a major achievement and possibly a minor miracle. Best feature of all though is that it’s been left disregarded, unwashed in the corner of my room ever since and there’s not even the faintest hint of the all-too-familiar ‘festering sports gear’ stench, which as my house-mates will contest, can be rather overwhelming at times! This all bodes well for when it comes to cycling through Africa where the sun will be much hotter, I’ll be sweatier and washing machines will be fewer and far between. Reckon the ‘dash tank’ looks pretty good on too.
Oh, and the other revelation? There’s pure pleasure, with zero guilt, in consuming two magnums in a day when you’ve been out biking for six hours… Don’t suppose I’ll be coming across many ice-cream vans in the Sahara though.

Right, time for bed me thinks.
Helen

Thats my summer holiday to Switzerland cancelled…..

Gareth    Clothing, Gareth, General Outdoor     Gareth, Hiking, Switzerland

Well this is my summer holiday out then. I’ll get me coat

The Ordnance Survey Outdoors Show 2009

Gareth    Clothing     birmingham, exhibition, nec, ordnance, outdoors, show, survey

March sees the annual return of The Ordnance Survey Outdoors Show at the NEC Birmingham. The 2009 guess speakers have now been announced.

Sir Ranulph Fiennes

Know too many as the “World’s Greatest Living Explorer “, Fiennes was the first man to reach the South and North Pole by surface travel. More recently in 2003 he completed 7 marathons in 7 days across 7 continents.

Ranulp Fiennes has been a leading figure within the outdoors community since the early 80’s, helping raise millions for several charities along his way. In 2007 Fiennes climbed the North Face of the Eiger raising an impressive £1.7 million for Marie Curie.

Alan Hinkes, OBE

Flying the flag for Briton, Alan Hinkes was the first Brit to climb the words highest mountain, 14 peaks across 8000m – only 12 other explorers have achieved this!

Alan Hinkes has famously scaled Everest as well as K2 and the third highest peak in the world, Kanchenjunga.

So when is it?

The Ordnance Survey Outdoors Shows runs between 27 – 29 March 2009 and offers a wide range of outdoor (indoor) activities, including kayaking, diving, SCUBA, mountain biking and rock climbing.

To find out more information and check the full list of announced speakers visit http://www.outdoorsshowextra.co.uk/index.php

What’s the warmest fleece material these days?

Gareth    Clothing    

In response to James Penmans great question, on our Ask The Expert section:

Like most things in outdoor these days, the insulation or fleece layer is split between organic and synthetic products.

By far the most popular is synthetic fleece, which makes up a good 80% of the product used on the hill in the UK and further afield. Whilst most of the major brands have their own in house fleece mini brand (TKA from The North Face, for example), the market leader is Polartec. The main Polartec offering ranges in weight from 100 to 300, with the larger number being a thicker, more insulative garment. A Polartec 300 weight fleece will keep you nice and snug in all but the coldest of condtions. A great example of this is the Berghaus PolarPlus fleece.

Other synthetic insulation layers can include heavier duty materials like Primaloft, which is also used in syntetic sleeping bags. Garments like The North Face Redpoint Jacket or the Mountain Equipment Fitzroy Jacket are great examples of this. They can be used over a base layer in mild to cold conditions or under a shell jacket when it gets really cold. One thing to look out for here, is the hood. Many of the better synthetic fill jackets have an insulated hood, but you need to ensure it will work with the hood on your shell jacket.

Finally, more Organic offerings using Merino wool are available. Icebreaker (a Webtogs favourite) make a 320 range of Merino Wool mid layers, the Rock Zip being a good example. Merino wool garments have a better warmth to weight ratio, so a 300 weight synthetic fleece will be thicker than an equivalent Merino wool garment offering the same insulative value.

On more of a technical side note, when it’s really cold, nothing beats down based products for cold (but dry) insulative value. Down’s primary method of keeping you warm is the loft effect, where the down seperates and traps air, which in turn provides excellent insulation. It’s for this reason that down doesn’t actually work that well as a mid layer, as any layer on top will prevent the loft and hence hamper the insulative effect.

So, short answer, the warmest mid layer out there will be one of the synthetic fill jackets, closely followed by a good 300 weight fleece. When buying a fleece it is worth paying the extra for top fabrics like Polartec, they will last longer and are much more resistant to pilling, which is where the fleece bubbles into small knots, harming it’s insulative effect.

Icebreaker launches itunes competitor – Ewetunes.

Gareth    Clothing, eCommerce     breaker, ewetunes, ice, icebreaker, itunes

You have to give credit to the Icebreaker team for this one – Ewetunes is a neat little site that let’s you drag and drop sheep in a field to create a series of christmas related tunes and send them to your friends. It’s hilarious!

When you’ve finished your masterpiece, revel in the glory and get yourself an icebreaker t-shirt or base layer to celebrate