Review:- 2014 Peak River Guide Vest

Friends of the shop Matty Nicholas and Sal Montgomery, have just sent us this review of the Peak River Guide Vest

We have now been using the 2014 Peak UK River Guide PFD for six months. In this time we have travelled to New Zealand, Scotland, France and Italy, and paddled extensively in England. The PFD has therefore been used in variety of locations and situations including creek boating, extreme racing, safety kayaking, scouting rapids and performing rescues.

The PFD has a nice fit and is easily adjusted. It sits nicely on the body in and out of the boat, without being too bulky around your trunk. It doesn’t feel restrictive, as we have found it comfortable to wear for racing in and to wear whilst training. The harness is in an ideal stable position and the quick release is easily accessible.

The rear of the harness is also very accessible for quickly securing a line.

Once in the water the PFD gives a good amount of floatation and offers good protection around the body. There are adjustable straps either side of the PFD that allow it to be tightened quickly and easily if required.

The PFD comes in a strong red colour that stands out well and is easily visible when paddling or swimming.

Our favourite feature of the PFD is the amount of pockets it has. There are four pockets on the front of the PFD that can carry a huge amount of equipment. We like to carry most of our equipment that is required for a rescue on us rather than in the boat. This PFD allows for this plus as much Haribo as you like!

Even when fully loaded we did not find the PFD bulky or heavy. We tested this well as we wore our PFDs on the 27 hour flight from Auckland to London to cut our luggage weight down. Some advice for anyone trying this is to remember to take the spare river knife out of the PFD first. Forgetting to do this can cause delays and some interesting questioning as we both discovered!

This is an excellent, hardwearing PFD and is now one our favourite pieces of kit. It works well with what we do and we enjoy using it. It’s nice to use equipment we want to wear rather than equipment we feel that we have to wear. The Peak UK River Guide PFD ticks all the boxes in safety, comfort, versatility and usability.

Report and photos by Matty Nicholas and Sal Montgomery