Introducing the Palm Riff PFD

The Riff is the latest buoyancy aid to arrive from the creative team at Palm Equipment. Available in 4 sizes (XXS, XS/S, M/L and XL/XXL) and 3 colours (Chilli, Jet Grey and Teal), the Riff is designed to be your go to PFD for kayaking, canoeing and stand-up-paddleboarding. This PFD combines superb comfort, clean styling, and storage capacity all at a very reasonable price point!

Taking it out of the box you’re immediately struck by how compact and light the Riff is as well as Palm’s usual slick design, style and production quality.

The Riff has a large clam shell style pocket that is really good, the biggest in its category! The pocket has an internal divider to help better organise your gear, plus the usual attachment points to lash in your kit. A small hidden sleeve located above the zipped pocket is the perfect place for storing your Palm Folding Knife as well.

The Riff is equipped with small details that help make it an ideal choice of bouyancy aid for all members of the paddlesports community. These include neoprene padding on the shoulder straps and on the front edges, for improved comfort and combined with a vent mesh liner on the interior to help the Riff breath, which will make this really nice if your wearing it next to the skin or using it with a thin layer on warmer days.

The side entry system makes it easy to take on and off with one small and one large clip to make it easy to avoid crossing the straps over, the large clip is also captive which makes the Riff easier to put on one-handed. Strap placement also means that the Flex Fit wrap around foam, that makes up the Riff PFD, is pulled around your torso providing the user with a very comfortable and secure fit.

Whilst we are on the subject of putting bouyancy aids on and strap placement it may be worthwhile to discuss the actual fitting of PFD’s. The first step is to loosen all the straps and buckles, secondly place the PFD on (over your head or by the front zip) and fasten any buckles. If your PFD has a chest harness fitted you should not to tighten it at this stage. Thirdly, tighten all straps, starting from the waist and working upwards to the shoulder straps. Those with a chest harness, now is the time to tghten that up and to finsh it is recommended to sit down and check your shoulder straps.

The Riff utilises Gaia PVC free foam, this provides fantastic floatation and heat preservation to the user, but is also the most eco-conscious foam currently available. The Gaia foam is super soft and this, combined with tapered shaping, allows the Riff to fit securley and comfortably. The nylon material that covers the entirity of the Riff is 420D ripstop fabric, this will ensure that the Riff PFD will be able to stand up to the rigours of everyday paddling life and take a great deal of punishment!

In conclusion, we have all been super impressed with Palm’s Riff PFD and will continue to use it for it’s versatile design (comfort, fit and and compact design) and features (large pocket, knife sleeve and wrap-around fit) throughout the year, not just for kayaking but for canoeing and SUPing as well.

Palm’s line up of paddle specific PFD’s was already world class and it just got better with the arrival of the Palm Riff available now in store and online!