Astral  Indus LE PFD

Das bis jetzt schönste Design auf einer besten und durchdachtesten Schwimmwesten die es gibt. Speziell das Messerfach aussen finde ich sehr praktisch.

Great Fitting Great Looking Well made PFD as usual from Astral.

LE 15 Astral Indus artwork explanation The front of the PFD is Anna Kai's artistic rendition of Cheese Wave on the Mistassibi River. Cheese Wave stands out to me as the most dynamic and beautiful wave/river feature that I have ever seen. Lookers right on the top, we have a skeleton surf shaka, and inside the safety cross, we put a lily, which represents my Gran, she used lilies often in her pottery designs. On the back, starting at the looker's top left lapel, we have a group of simple seagulls in embroidery. These represent Jonathan Livingston Seagull. A bird, a character, a teacher, a concept in Richard Bach's short book of the same name. Top centre, the symbol for Wu-Wei (non-action). My favourite Bruce Lee quote revolves around non-action and reminds me how best to observe the whitewater surrounding me. Mid panel, left, we have my partner Fernanda's old classic Renault car with dragonfly wings. Fer and her sister have those same wings as tattoos. The Bear is 'bones'. He is my childhood bear. Now he is my son Loïc's bear. The kayak paddle turns bones into a paddler, and the tie represents Bren Orton. I was on a trip in Vietnam with YGP filming for the movie 'Source' a long time ago. I was a HUGE fan of YGP, and it was a dream of mine to be a part of the group. I had a tie made with their logo on it. I brought the tie to Dane Jackson's wedding as part of my outfit, and I was at a table with Bren and Rush Sturges, one of the 3 founders of YGP. Bren was encouraging Rush to release all the YGP videos that inspired us and so many others in the past. I was older and became friends with YGP and filmed with them. Bren was also a huge, mega fan, but YGP had evolved before he could have had the same opportunity. I realized that Bren and I were probably the last two YGP groupies and that we had both been massive fans. I gave him my tie, it was a fun moment at the time, which became something much more deep and personal as Bren passed away on the river not long after that night. There are a lot of details, and certainly Anna could speak to more. The back panel is a flipped painting to host the scene. The wave is an endless wave. The theme evolved to become a lot about my family. My gran (the lily), my parents and sister (bones), my partner (the car), our son (the bear), my friends and my obsession with kayaking (the paddle, the tie). Impermanence was something we talked about a lot. The LE’s colours are meant to pop and be vibrant; they will fade in time. The lifejacket's life is long, but it will look different in a few years. The tie was so important to me and my history, but it was easy to give it to Bren for that fun, joyful moment. Much better than holding onto it. We are here for a good time, not a long time. Cheese Wave had to be a part of it; its shapes articulate why whitewater is fascinating more clearly than I could put into words. And the rest is a reflection of the literature I use to consider what can be learned from observing the river and how to become a more natural, reflexive, instinctive kayaker. To do: Go Kayaking