Kit Review - Whitewater One Piece - Steve Brooks

For years and years I was badgering Pete, the boss and inspiration that developed the Peak Paddle Sports kayaking apparel company into a world leader and innovator.  I kept asking for a suit that would keep me not only warm and dry but would also do the business when on the river during those cold, wet days in the Spring and Autumn.  Luckily for me living in Austria there is no winter season as the mountains are blanketed in metres of the white stuff and the rivers dry up, though please do not feel sorry for me not being able to kayak as the powder skiing is world class here in the Arlberg region of Austria!

So after quite a while of me pestering Pete, he came up with an idea, put it into a plan and the White Water One Piece was brought to life.  The first edition was a kind of street workers orange colour but it ticked a lot of boxes.  We are now on the 8th edition of the White Water One Piece, with a few minor changes and updates, I can honestly say that it performs way beyond its intended use and I am super happy!

This year here at Kayak School Arlberg we become providers to Paddle UK / British Canoeing’s 3 white water rescue awards.  The Introduction to White Water Safety, the White Water Safety award and the Advanced White Water Safety award.  Paddle UK has one of the leading rescue awards around the globe, designed by white water kayakers, delivered by white water kayakers for white water kayakers! 

So early this Spring in the Austrian Alps we put together an Advanced White Water Safety Course for a group of Dutch kayakers here in St.Anton am Arlberg.

What it meant was for the following 2 days I spent a lot of my time waist deep in water, either setting up scenarios of pinned kayaks, lost paddles, foot entrapments or  moving around in the water in a safe and stable manner and of course let’s not forget the amount of swimming, rope rescues and playing an unconscious kayaker laying in the water.

Throughout the duration of the course I wore my trusted Peak PS White Water One Piece and not once did it let me down!  I certainly put it through its paces and throughout my time spent in the freezing cold waters of the Rosanna River is was bone dry.  Not one drop of water entered through my one piece suit!   With the  combination of a Thermal long sleeve Rashy and Thermal short sleeve Rashy and the stretch fleece pants were keeping me ever so toasty! 

For me the Peak PS White Water One Piece is THE “go to” piece of kit when I am running various white water safety courses for Paddle UK / British Canoeing.  I also love kayaking in my one piece early in the Spring and throughout late Autumn when the weather starts to turn and the temperature starts to drop.

We have already a dusting of snow up on the mountain tops so it will not be too long until I will be back on the river keeping dry and staying warm thanks to this wonderful piece of kayaking apparel.

Cheers Pete for designing something an extremely innovative piece of kayaking apparel.