PaddleXaminer met with Red Paddle Co representative Jordan Curet at the Summer OR event in Denver this past summer. One of their new items is an innovative deck bag for paddleboards. The first thing I noticed about the bag is its shape. If looking at it from a birds eye view, the bag is a semi-circle. This is a perfect shape for a paddleboard because it allows the paddler to position the deck bag so it’s flush with the board. The shape of the bag doesn’t stick out too much, or take up a lot of space. In fact, when looking at it, it almost appears as if it is apart of the board!
The deck bag is a nice neutral gray color with webbing on the front of the bag to secure various items. It has two convenient mesh pockets for securing small items. The zipper is reinforced and waterproof with a loop grip which I’ve found super helpful. Inside is a 22 liter (5.8 gal) space to store all your gear.
The best feature about Red Paddle Co’s deck bag design is how it opens. The top of the bag zips open along the semi-circle curve of the bag. This is perfect for when the deck bag is strapped to your board, you can quickly and easily access your bag and its contents.
PaddleXaminer tested the deck bag on the Upper Colorado this summer near Kremmling CO; the Colorado river was running strong at 3000 CFS. I strapped the deck bag down to the front of my SUP at the pumphouse and jumped on my board. The deck bag comes with luggage tensioning straps which I used to clip the bag to my board in the off chance the bag slipped out from under the tie-down cords.
Once in the canyon the fun begins! This section of the Colorado river is one of my favorites because the rapids are inside of a canyon and are spread out so it’s not a constant bombardment of one rapid after the other; you get to enjoy the scenery a bit.
The deck bag went through it’s share of rapids that day and got plenty wet. I took a quick swim shortly after the Needles Eye rapid (class III rapid at this flow) as wave washed over the front of my board. Overall it was a great day on the water. After I got off the water I checked inside the deck bag, all dry!
The Red Paddle Deck Bag is ready for adventure makes a great addition to any paddler’s gear inventory!
redoriginal.com/products/deck-bag
#Bags #Colorado #StandupPaddling #Whitewater
