Wondering what sort of gear Justine uses on and off the water?

	Esquif sponsoring This is Canoeing.
	I mostly use Kokatat kayaking wear and have been part of the Kokatat team for 4 years. I have a Kokatat dry suit with a drop sea which is brilliant and keeps me dryer than anything else I have worn. I also like the Kokatat bibs with a dropseat – it’s great not to have to fiddle about with taking layers off to pee when it’s cold and wet. When it’s warmer I often wear the kokatat sealskin trousers, shorts, and innercore layers. I recently tried their lightweight sun protective gloves and hat, which are very comfy.
	I use snapdragon spraydecks which I love because they don’t implode and they are easy to get on and off. With a previous deck I was always nervous on a surf launch where you don’t have long to jump in your kayak and put on your spray deck before the next wave comes in – I would end up not being able to put the deck on in time and the wave would come in and sweep me sideways and fill the cockpit. I also really like their neoprene pogies because they are really easy to get on and off – especially important for me because I stop to film quite a lot. They also don’t drip on your hands or hold water. As well as working in the cold they worn in the sun to avoid sunburn. I used them for this everyday in Tasmania and my hands didn’t get hot and sweaty as I’d expected.
	I wear Native sunglasses to protect my eyes from the sun. The glasses are cool and trendy off-the-water but the arms can be converted into a secure strap while on the water so they won’t get lost in the surf or waves.
	I use a Northwater towline and beach bag. The big hold-all beach bag is great for carrying all your bits of gear up the beach at once and the towline is sturdy and easy to use. It has elastics in it to reduce the pull on your body. The bilgemaster pump that they distribute is great as well – it squirts water so far that it’s fun for a water fight!
	I use a waterproof submersible GARMIN GPS. I don’t actually use it that much on the water because I enjoy navigating ‘the old fashioned way’ but it’s a fantastic back up. I sometimes use it when I’m in a following sea to measure my speed surfing down waves! On a recent trip to Orkney, I did use it every day because I had the ‘bluechart’ software for that area installed. This gave me a marine map of the area on my GPS so I could see a fairly detailed map of the coastline and the depths. It was really interesting to see how our speed varied as we went over different features on the seafloor, and keep an eye on our track across the ground because there are strong tides in that area.
	I use a Casio PRW-1200 waveceptor watch which I love because it’s solar powered, waterproof ( including getting trashed in the surf proof!) & it has a 24-hour graph showing how the pressure is changing. This feature is useful while on an expedition and trying to predict how the weather will change. It also talks to a satellite every day to keep the exact time – accurate to the second!!
	I use an ICOM IC-M72 waterproof sumbersible VHF radio. The battery life is excellent; we used one almost every day on a 67-day circumnavigation of NZ’s south island and the battery only ran down once. Barry kept his in his buoyancy aid ( PFD) and it survived big surf launchings and landings.
	In New Zealand MSR, thermarest and seal-line dry bags sponsored the trip and all the products were excellent. We used MSR dragonfly stoves and over 67 days, the stove started every time with no problems. The simmer function is excellent and makes the stove very fuel efficient. In Sardinia, when we ran out of ‘proper fuel’, we switched to petrol with no problems ( just a little more soot).
	The welsh company Sanoodi sponsors me with a blackberry that I can record my routes on. If I go on a paddle ( or walk, or bike ride) an inbuilt GPS records the route and if there is a phone signal the blackberry uploads the route live onto the internet. If there is no phone signal on location, the route can be uploaded once we return to civilization! An alert that I am on an adventure is automatically sent out on ‘twitter’ so you can follow along ‘live’.
	I was lucky enough to be a ‘The North Face’ sponsored athlete for 5 years, up until the end of 2008. TNF reduced their team to just 3 UK sponsored athletes in 2009 and this seakayaker didn’t make the top 3! However, I still have a lot of ‘the North Face’ clothing and tents and think they are great.