Gear review: Baltic Flipper

First off  Packrafters sometimes choose not wear buoyancy aids, some even wrap their foam sleeping pads around themselves in an attempt to increase there safety in a risk benefit situation.

Now I have struggled with the concept of this for a while, having worked in the outdoors for 15 odd years and attending lots of white water rescue training course where it is drilled into you the you will wear your PPE (personal protective equipment) with in 15feet of the waters edge, let alone on it.

Enter the Baltic Flipper this snazzy garment out of the packet looks like your standard Gillet that you see outdoory types wearing around outdoory type places.

That’s not two gillets but one it’s reversible! Hows goods that? i can’t find on the label what it’s made out of but it feels similar to other buoyancy aid with like a hard wearing nylon/polyester/cordura type fabric?
It weigh in at around 630g for a size large, each block of buoyancy foam is swen into it’s own pocket which should keep everything where it should be and allow the user to fold it in to on to what ever their chosen method of carrying gear is.

There are other options on the market that are a tad smaller and lighter, but they are not CE certified at 50N of buoyancy, so in my mind this is well worth the £121 price tag with free UK postage ( but I would say that wouldn’t I?)

Overrall I reckon this is a great addition to your adventure tool set, the piece of mind of a certified buoyancy aid If you choose to wear it and the bonus of an extra piece of warm kit for you to look cool in on your adventures.

Cheers
Andy  Amazing gear and adventures found here