Headlamps

Headlamps are essential to a good Safari run, but they have limitations.

Last year I broke my boat and spent 6 hours standing/lying on a log in a nasty, watching about 20 boats in the back of the pack coming through. Many of these were tandem boats that were using only headlamps. It was clear that they had to feel their ways down the river.

One of the problems with headlamps is that every time your top paddle hand comes up

on a stroke, 40-60 times a minute, it will reflect the headlamp back in your eyes and effectively blind you. And, when you have to hit a strong brace in some junk-precisely when you need to see-your hand may be directly in front of your face, again mirroring the light back in your eyes. Moreover, headlamps draw swarms of bugs that swarm your face, head, get in your eyes, mouth, nose?

On the other hand, bow lamps point the direction your boat is going. You often need to head due south, which means that your bow light is pointing due south, to position yourself to hit the slot above a nasty that is due east. That is where the headlamp becomes useful. You turn it on to scout the river to the right or left, then turn it off so you can paddle and so the bugs will leave you alone.

More expensive may not be a lot better for headlamps. You can buy good ones for $35 to $65 at REI and elsewhere. I find the yellow $10 version at Home Depot to be just as good. These all run on AA batteries. Energizer Advanced Formula batteries should last about 3.5 hours of actual use. Lithium AA batteries, available at REI and Radio Shack should last over 5 hours. Since you turn your headlamp on and mostly off, a set of batteries should get you through the night.

Another option is the Ray-O-Vac headlamp that you can buy at Academy for $15. It has the advantage of running on 4 D-cell batteries, which should give you 10 hours of service, getting you through a couple of nights. Moreover, this good little light has an adjustable beam. In a pinch, you could tape it to the bow of your boat, widen the beam and use it for a bow light. The battery pack is on a 3-foot cord, which means the weight on your head is less. Note, you need to tweak this light for optimum usage. First, the power cord fits into the light with a little ?L? plunger fitting that easily pops out. You will want to duct tape it firmly to the lamp. Second, the cord can get in the way of your paddling, so you will want to tape it to the headband to insure that it goes down your back. Finally, the battery pack is not waterproof. The rain once got in mine and the batteries quickly went down. I was successful at remedying this with a zip-loc bag sealed with a tightly wrapped rubber band.

Many carry a backup headlamp, loaded with fresh batteries so they won?t have to change batteries during the night. Again, paddlers have been known to tape their extra headlamp to the bow of their boat

?Nightlights? in your boat. Finally, you may want to run with a ?nightlight? in your boat so you won?t have to use the headlamp or dig out a flashlight when you reach for some ibuprofen, a Powerbar, etc. I forget what they are called, but you can get them at Academy. They are small plastic tubes that light when you ?break? them, and give a pale but very useful light for 3-4 hours. Make sure you have a place for them that is perhaps just behind the front of your seat. If they are too far forward they will interfere with your vision of the river.