Reed Chillcheater Gear - Welcome to the future....

I'm very excited about the shipment of Reed Chillcheater gear we're about to land! After a few weeks of testing in the filed, we're so impressed that I think this stuff deserves a few lines, just because it's so good. And hey, of course we'd like to sell a few! My original impressions of the Reed Aquatherm fabric, from DVD's like This is the Sea & Pacific Horizons, was that it looked like one of those old rubber wetsuits that Sean Connery used to wear in James Bond films from the '60's. Great for the cold water of the UK (and a few Oxford St Nightclubs) but surely too heavy for our warmer climes; & the visuals didn't exactly engender a garment likely to breathe too well. Fast forward to Rock & Roll this year, & Nigel Dennis' appearance in his Reed kit, & all of my preconceptions were exploded. Nigel was wearing a vest with a spray skirt attached, & had a spray deck separate along with the Reed PFD & Cag. The design of the stuff was a marvel, obviously designed by elite paddlers, taking into considerations the gear-related lessons learned over years of expeditioning.

The Aquatherm fabric itself does look rubbery, but is about the same thickness as a rashie, with the advantages of being windproof & ultra-breathable. Rob & I immediately ordered samples to test & we have both been blown away by the performance of these garments. Without going into the serious details of each item in the range, the overriding features are fit (no rubbing caused by wearing a top that was designed for a surfer), design (how would you like a set of hand warmer pockets & a designated VHF sleeve in your next PFD?), and material (Aquatherm is awesome stuff, breathable, comfortable, incredibly light & pretty groovy....) We've got good stock on all of the Reed range on our online store, available at the same prices you would be paying if you bought direct from Reed in the UK, without the expensive international freight charge. We've even designed a spray deck for the Mirage paddlers out there, looking for a good quality expedition spray skirt for their sea adventures.

Chillcheater - once you've had black, you'll never go back......