INthehatch PENTAX OPTIO WP and AQUAPAC SLR CASE
You don’t have to harbour notions of being the next Jacques Cousteau (or even Steve Zissou) to appreciate new products that let you take pho- tos on, or in, the water without worrying your camera will die a watery death.
Pentax puts stress-free photography in your PFD pocket with their new sleek but submersible Optio WP. It packs plenty of photographic cre- dentials into a 5x10x2 cm package, including a five megapixel sensor, an optical zoom, a five-cen- timetre LCD monitor and a feature that records the audio of the scene you’re photographing. It’s safe for underwa- ter shooting at depths down to a metre and a half. $500 Cdn.
www.pentax.ca.
Aquapac cases allow serious photog- raphers to use their SLR cameras in any sort of wet environment with a new waterproof case tailor-made to fit most SLR bodies. The clear lens tunnel accommodates lenses up to 8 centimetres long (as in actu- al lens length, not focal length). The Aquaclip sealing system is guaranteed to stay waterproof down to five metres. —IM
$169 Cdn.
www.aquapac.info SILVA COBALT COMPASS
Kayakers trying to simplify their lives will want to look in the opposite direction from this compass. Keen techies, however, will have button- pushing fingers twitching at this digital baseplate compass. Switch between the eight dif- ferent modes (including calibration, declination,
bearing, and time modes) operated by three small buttons on the face. There’s a warning dis- play for when the watch battery gets low, or when readings are affected by electronic or magnetic interference and the display is backlit for when you’re lost and it’s dark out. Take a bearing on a map as you would with a standard compass, input your intended direction and lis- ten for the beeps to let you know you’re on track. —IM
$79 Cdn, $59 US.
www.silvacompass.com
SEATTLE SPORTS HYDROSTAR
MULTISTROBE Serious disco aficionados will be disappointed to see that this HydroStar light has only one frequency of strobe light. Everyone else will be impressed at the many settings available on this simple light that’s not much bigger than a salt shaker. Three intensity levels of LED lighting make it useful around the campsite, with a clip and magnetic base increasing its possible uses. Slide it into the suction-cup mount to fasten on your kayak deck for a dis- tress strobe signal or for regu- lation red/green marine lighting. —IM $30 US.
www.seattlesportsco.com
HARMONY TORTUGA
Tortuga Island, resting just north of Haiti was the hub of Caribbean pirate activity for much of the 17th century. But fear not, there’s no high-seas piracy going on here. Designers of the Tortuga have taken the name for this paddle not from the pirate hide- out but from the Spanish word for Turtle, on the pretense that the blade is shaped like a turtle’s flipper. Anatomy aside, the paddle offers the features of a high-performance pad- dle at a price that won’t have you
walking the gangplank when you get home to your spouse. The nylon blades are rein- forced with either car- bon or glass fibres and feature an air bubble which Harmony says not only adds stiffness but results in a “quiet” profile, meaning it’s less prone to fluttering, especially when sculling. The result is a stiff and durable paddle weighing in at 1,134 grams. Available in carbon or fibreglass, take- apart or one-piece straight shafts. —IM
$130–$180 US.
www.harmonygear.com 42 // Summer 2005
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