Liner thickness
In the helmet I have the Gath liner thickness is only 6mm and this is less than most whitewater helmets have. It allows for a lower profile helmet but at the expense of the shock absorbtion ability.
The hit I described in my earlier post only left minor scrapes on the shell, but the impact was certainly enough to make me see stars and I may have momentarily lost consciousness. This occurred about 8-10 years ago and I’ve left this helmet on the shelf since.
New helmets are different.
How So?
The one I’ve looked at in shops appear to be the same. Could you explain the changes?
Are you looking at surf helmets?
For WW kayaking the plastic is new and the padding is different and thicker.
I rang Gath
I just had a talk with Gath and they’re sending me some info. They have changed the density of the foam since the one I have was made. The one I have is a very early one of the surf type with visor which is what many paddlers use, including Corran Addison.
The new Gedi which I have seen but not used does have slightly thicker foam and is being submitted for testing for compliance with EM1385. AFAIK this standard has been withdrawn but they can’t agree on a new standard for whitewater helmets so there no current standard to test to.
I may have a closer look at the Gedi and shall reserve my judgement.
Seda Helmet
composite, full coverage. Sized S,M,L. If right fit, it doesn’t move around. Good protection (done well for me).
Problem is that I have yet to see an online retailer for it. And I only just happened to see some in at a local sea kayaker outfitter and picked it up.
http://community.webshots.com/photo/435444269/1435446418043300790TmDSJq#
sing
you called australia???or Murrays in CA
Had a Seda years ago
burned up in a garage fire. My head is round, the Seda was round, a match made in heaven.
Seda has apparently discontinued their helmet line. Pity.
Jim
I’m in Australia
I live less than two hours from Gath in Australia. They were very happy to talk and I spent 24 minutes on the phone to them. They are going to send me some more info too. I had a look in my local surf shops yesterday but they didn’t have the Gedi with the forehead protection in my size or with the ear protectors.
ok…then i am jealous!
After trying all that I could find
I wound up with the plastic WRSI Current helmet. I don’t necessarily buy into all the hype surrounding this helmet, but I needed one for a clinic this weekend, and couldn’t wait to order something else. Eventually, I may well wind up with another one. I like the Cascade, from the little I’ve seen on it.
Getting opinions on helmets was interesting. In addition to all the suggestions and experiences posted here, I talked with 3 instructors. Instructor #1 does a lot of serious WW. He owns 4 helmets including a Head Trip carbon fiber one, but says he runs rivers in the WRSI Current and creeks in a Cascade with full face guard. Instr. #2 does both WW and seakayaking, and said if money wasn’t an obstacle, he’d not want a plastic helmet. Inst. #3 seemed to think a cheap Pro-tec was good enough. (That was an option I wasn’t even willing to consider, right from the start.)
Selection locally was limited to Protecs, WRSI Currents and a limited handful of models from Shred Ready. Of note, the plastic in the Shred Ready AHM 5000 and in the Phly could easily be flexed by very little hand pressure. These didn’t look like they offered my protection. The Shred Ready fiberglass & fiber Full Mental Jacket was very comfortable, very hard, and I liked it alot. However, out of 3 stores, they only had one of these, and it was missing half of the chin buckle. Looking at the way it’s made, it appeared to me and a store employee, that the only way it could be missing this part was if it was ommitted at the factory, prior to riveting the straps down. That doesn’t say much for QC. The Shred Ready Super Scrappy, while plastic, was MUCH more rigid than the other SR plastic helmets, as was the WRSI helmet.
The WRSI fit me pretty well, and is quite customizable via a slew of provided inserts. I’m not sure I trust the plastic bit that goes in back to position the helmet on the head, but when properly installed, this was the only helmet I tried that I could not make ride up to expose my forehead when hitting the brim with my palm. All of the others rode up, even after spending time adjusting them to my head. 2nd best was the Super Scrappy, but it’s back of head tensioner is kind of weird.
It looks like all of these are made to a cost. I’d rather that the mfrs built to as high a protection level as could reasonably be offered, and let the cost be what it may. I did think it interesting that WRSI Current was engineered to compete with the lowend Protecs, but currently costs almost double. If they’d take the basic concept, and explore the finest materials they could find, they might well have a real winner. As it is, I feel it’s kind of a kludge.
WRSI helmets
I too, recently wound up with a WRSI helmet. Maybe I could’ve gotten a better helmet, but money was a concern when I bought, and I don’t think I could’ve done better for the 70 bucks.
(“better” as in safety - I think I could have found a “better looking” helmet for less. But that’s just my friend’s opinion, and I digress…)
After a good bit of fiddling it now fits better than anything else I’ve tried. As far as construction goes, I definitely think their onto something with their double-shell design.
Seda Helmet
Guess what? Some are still available as discontinued items direct from Seda. Limited sizes available.
Jim
Little known facts
Helmets, as we all know, have different design missions. Rock helmets and hardhats are meant to protect from falling objects, hockey helmets are made to protect agains both high-speed-low-mass encounters (puck) and low-speed-high-mass encounters (ice).
Here is what they don’t tell you - a helmet is really important - the type of helmet is relatively insignificant. A hockey or football helmet would be excellent for paddling (which is pretty tame compared to those sports). I’m not making this up - I got it from a head-injury expert who gave a seminar to my class on prevention and care of head injuries. He recommended the “all-sport” helmets that are now sold for biking, rollerblading, skateboarding etc. Just avoid a rock helmet, or the all-foam bike helmets (but one would be better than nothing)
Big disagreement
A, old style hockey helmet is mostly about laceration protection. It absorbs little energy, it just prevents penetration. So almost all the energy is ther to scramble the brain.
A crushable liner can actually absorb impact energy.
Moving fast down a pushy river or surfing in the ocean, I’ll take all the protection I can get.
Sweet seems sweet
I have a WRSI that I haven’t actually used yet but I want to be ready for that surf class sometime (and my WW friends are working on me…) It took me a long time to adjust and it isn’t perfect but the price was right. They were very prompt in sending extra pads that I needed for my pin-head.
But a friend of mine has a Sweet, full cut model I think. Very nice, seems to be very comfortable and has good coverage. I’d say it is well worth checking out if you don’t mind the price.
Yeah right.
"…football helmet would be excellent for paddling (which is pretty tame compared to those sports). "
Your idea of paddling may not be the same as others…
http://www.texaskilonewton.com/kayak/sage_brush.jpg
If you take up kayak surfing I really suggest you don’t try to head butt some big waves in football helmet … you will get your head ripped off.
