COASTEERING KIT Wenger Ranger Watch €195 www.wenger.ch Classic Swiss Army watch with rugged good looks. Its water resistant to 100m and comes with a three year warranty.
Bern Macon H2O Helmet €75 www.ultrasporteu.com The Macon H2O will absorb any knock, fits great and won’t grab at your hair. The foam liner ‘breathes’ keeping you cool on hot, sunny days (although the sea also does a pretty good job of that) and quickly dries out once your coasteering session is over.
Keen Owyhee €95 www.keenfootwear.com The Owyyhees feature quick drying, supple, sea-water resistant polyester webbed uppers and hydrophobic mesh linings which incorporate Aegis Microbe Shield treatment to fend off bacteria. A one-pull lace capture system gives a secure fit, and the tough rubber outsoles have multidirectional lugs and razor siping for reliable traction on wet and slippery surfaces.
O’neill Superfreak Wetsuit From €130 www.oneillwetsuits.com It’s best to go for a budget wetsuit since you’ll be dragging it over rocks and snagging it on barnacles. The O’Neill Superfreak is a great option thanks to its snug closure system, ultra minimal seam design to prevent water entering and, most importantly, it’s remarkable flexibility. And you can buy different thicknesses for summer or winter use.
Nikon Coolpix AW100 €425 www.nikon.com Catch all the action with the rugged, waterproof, shockproof, freezeproof Coolpix AW100. It features a 5x Zoom-Nikkor ED glass lens and 16-MP CMOS sensor to record action photos and full HD movies. There’s also integrated GPS and electronic compass, plus a cool camouflage finish.
46 | AUTUMN 2012 | ON BOARD
Swells and waves As Andy points out, “The cliffs and caves, swells and waves that are part of coasteering make up one of the wildest and harshest environments on the planet and this activity gets you right there in the thick of it. It’s a bit like mountain scrambling, but without a rope – because if you take a dive your fall is cushioned by the Atlantic Ocean”. The guides at TyF Adventure offer routes graded from ‘Blue Line’ a gentle introduction involving easy climbing and swimming and modest cliff jumps in conditions varying from flat calm to a gentle swell - through to ‘White Line’ for experienced coasteerers on big wave days. On one of these more demanding routes you can expect plenty of action as you’re lifted up and down by the swells and have to negotiate the high energy environment of the sea cliffs and caves with skill and care, whilst cliff jumps will be higher and swims longer. Whatever grade of coasteer you go for and wherever you choose to do it the bottom line is all about having fun. Squeeze into your wetsuit, pull on your wetshoes and your safety helmet and set off along the wave washed cliffs. However hard you try it won’t be long before you either fall into the sea or have to swim across a gully, and once you’re wet the fun really begins, because you can’t get any wetter. Which means there are no longer any inhibitions about cliff jumps into the sea and pushing yourself a bit more than usual on the traverses – if you fall off (and you will) the worst that is likely to happen is a big splash and a bit of the Atlantic up your nose… For further details contact: www.tyf.com tel: +44(0)1437 721611