So a couple of weeks ago I made what could only be described a an armature mistake when out paddling, just before the get one of our group ask if they could borrow my river knife to cut some foam. So I took it out of my pocket and unclipped the lanyard it was attached to, they when I got it back I just stuffed it into my PFD pocket and was on my way. Fast forward a short while later I jumped out on the bank to set up some rescue, and when taking a sling out of my PFD pocket my knife flew out in what seemed like a comedy slow motion and straight into the river, where it now resides permanently.

The knife I had I was pretty fond of I had bought it while working in France a few years back, I had a spare Peak UK river knife but I just never liked it! So I dropped into the folks at i-canoe to check out what they had in stock and catch up with the lads. They stock NRS kit which I have always thought was well designed & put together right. The first choice was do I go for a sheath knife or a folding type which I have always favoured.

The 3 models to choose from were the Wingman / Pilot / Co-pilot, I whipped them all out of their boxes and took some photos to help you get a better idea of their scale.

The Co-Pilot is by far the nicest of any of the sheath knives that I have come across, its compact but just the right size while never feeling bulky. If you are the like the Idea of having a knife on the outside of your PFD this is the bit of kit for you, the sheath clips perfectly into lash tabs that are on most rescue vests.

I have to say I was very tempted by the Co-Pilot but in the end I decided to to stick with the folding style that I’m used to. The Wingman is a super bit of design, it is super compact so that it will fit nicely into your PFD pocket but when its open its just the right size to do the job when you most need it.

There was one only one improvement that could be do to make this knife better, its not the easiest to open with one hand should you ever need to do that.  I’ve resolved this with a little bit of tape and 5 minutes, check out the picture below.The bit of tape also allows you to open the knife with you teeth if you are really under pressure. Just a note for the left handers out there, the belt clip on the knife can be whipped off and changed over to the other side with relative ease to make it more ergonomically for the left hookers.

Last but by no means least in the line up is the Pilot knife. Its a full size knife which comes in just over 7 inches long, I reckon its a bit long for kayaking use but for rescue professionals / divers / sailors this is a serious but of kit for you. The construction is super solid and due to its one piece design I could never imagine you breaking this knife.

I think that what river knife paddlers carry with them when out boating is the one piece of kit that never get much thought, the thinks to look out for when you are looking for a knife should include.

• Blade, is it serrated or smooth or a combination of both, the combined is best as have the best of both worlds.
• Knife tip, is it blunt or pointy. Many a person has done a bit of unintentional self harm with pointy blades, pointy blades can be helpful of you ever needed to puncture cut something like a spray skirt ( A sharp blade can make up for this ).
• How are you going to attach it or where are you going to put it?
• What is it made out of, lots of river knives are made out of polished chrome which wont last long in a river environment. And even some blades that are stainless steel they are still not up to the riggers of river use. All of the NRS knives above are made from  420HC Stainless Steel  which is perfect for what we boaters demand of it.

All in all I reckon NRS have you pretty much covered no matter what style of knife you prefer to use, one of the best thing about them aside from there design & savage build quality is that they are super value to with the Wingman coming in at just €25 and the Pilots costing a little bit more at €35.

I can’t stress enough how important it is to have a quality river knife and more importantly how and when to use it.

That’s all until next time.

Adrian

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