Whitewater helmets - Because the mind is a terrible thing to waste...or splatter on a rock in a rapid...Part 1: What NOT to wear.

As most of my friends are aware, I have recently developed a mild obsession with whitewater kayaking...and by mild I mean I went on a 3 day trip and about a week later dropped $500.00 on a used Wavesport Diesel 65. This is no small thing for one who will often live on Ramen noodles and canned tuna for a month just to afford the next trip to Central America while still making timely payments on the student loans...If anyone wonders what has put that new twinkle in my eye and bounce in my step, it's the Diesel, folks...

At any rate, as stated above, I have student loans. I have invested well over $100,000.00 cramming knowledge into my brain, most of it legal knowledge. I am not about to let that investment leak into the river because I flip my boat and my skull becomes intimate with some rocks on a Class III rapid.

As for most of my kayak gear, I am still in the borrowing stage, so I have more insight on what not to use than what to use. My friends and I learned a valuable lesson while paddling the Cartecay on Memorial Day - bicycle helmets are a big FAIL in whitewater. It is not my own experience I speak from, as I was lazily sitting in a beached boat watching the boys surf a rapid (or attempt to surf a rapid, depending on how you choose to look at it), when one of them flipped HARD into the rapid. He stood up, disoriented, and watched the others retrieve his boat for about a minute before the dazed look left his eyes. As for the helmet? Destroyed. Shredded on the outside and the inside didn't fare all that much better. Apparently, bike helmets are designed for single impact. Whitewater kayaking is not a single impact sport. You still have to make it to the takeout.

Now, I have been borrowing a whitewater helmet for a few weeks, but I know that I have to get my own. Some options I have been looking at are the bargain version at REI, the Pro-Tec Ace, which provides pretty comprehensive head coverage for a whopping $45.00, and the WRSI Current. The current is a very well-acclaimed helmet because it was designed to offer maximum protection at cost so as to promote safety for as many people as possible, in honor of a young man who died in a whitewater accident. The Current is an $80.00 helmet. See the history of this helmet here. Oh yeah, and it's also significantly cuter than the Pro-Tec, if that's a factor.

Now, what have we learned here, folks?

1. Never paddle without a helmet, unless you want grey matter from your own head leaking onto a rock. It might not happen, but it COULD. Hell, I almost hit my head falling into a Class I on the Hiwassee, where I was foolish enough on the first day (not the second day) not to wear a helmet at all.
2. A bike helmet is not a suitable replacement for a whitewater helmet. I have watched this in action, folks. Not a good thing.
3. We haven't seen a mishap with the caving and rock climbing helmets yet, but I am still wary. They just don't protect quite enough of the head to make me feel comfortable with my "investment".

Check back often for updates on what to wear. I will probably be trying out the WRSI in the near future, so stay tuned!