One innovative product that Palm have brought out recently and which grabbed my attention was the Glide. Designed for the SUP market principally it ticked a few boxes for me as an angler and sea kayaker for summer use. I have this tendency to go out quite lightly kitted when and where possible and if this means a pair of Atom pants, Descender shoes and a bare chest then I’m happy as I can top up my tan, get a smattering of salt and some refreshing wind and water over my body while doing what I like to do. The PFD tan lines of my Kaikoura made the Glide instantly desirable! So I ordered one and used it all summer. Comfortable? Yes. Small? Yes. Light? Yes. Effective? Well … I couldn’t really tell!

So. I ordered a re-arming kit and decided to take it into the pool for a quick test once the season was over. I’ve been doing a lot of SCUBA diving this year too (the fishing and paddling opportunities have been poor for me this year for various reasons) and have had this with me while on boats as well as the kayak as it’s just so versatile. I’ve also used it when general fishing on rocks which it is ideally suited to. Good kit as they say. For the test I set things up by putting 12 kg of lead on a weight belt at the bottom of the pool and put my feet through to keep me down – my Kaituna longsleeve and Blaze pants (my usual training equipment as it’s light, comfortable and warm enough for the pool) are quite buoyant so this was required as I didn’t want to just bob around on the surface! I also had a cylinder on hand to breathe from while setting up and asked a friend to do the filming for me. Once ready, I took hold of the large tag reading ‘Jerk to inflate’ – always makes me smile – and did just that …

I was amazed at how quick it inflated and pulled me out of the weight belt and up to the surface! Once up I slipped it over my head, tied the tapes and floated around. It’s rated for 50 Newtons which was sufficient even with the weight belt when we brought that up to play with too. It remained in use for the next half an hour with a few of us trying it and, leaving it inflated at home, it stayed up for around three days or so. Plenty of time for a rescue I would imagine though an oral inflation tube is also provided on the front.

My confidence was well placed. It’s an ideal product for my summer paddling that I now know is going to do what it should. I suppose I’d better re-arm and re-pack it really …