Leland on the Patagonia Sub Divider:
Looking to take your fly fishing photography to the next level? Or simply wanting to have your SLR handy when the fish of the season comes to hand?
The Patagonia Sub Divider is a worry-free zone, the perfect mix of protection and portability, so when you zip a camera, reel, spool, phone or sandwich within its padded, impermeable innards, you can have confidence it will stay safe and dry.
Leland on Specifications:
The Patagonia Sub Divider builds on the success of the full-size Great Divider, offering (in a more portable size)
waterproof impact protection for those hypersensitive on-water essentials that can't get wet or broken. Built of polyurethane-coated 840-denier nylon,
the Patagonia Sub Divider functions as well as a boat bag as it does slung over your shoulder, and with a beefed-up zipper, it offers convenient, long-lasting open-shut access to those fly fishing extras most dear or fragile. The zipper, though it will capably repel precip or spray of any intensity, is not rated for submersion, so
don't try to use the Sub Divider as a flotation aid and expect the contents to come through bone dry.
Specifications:
- Bulletproof coated 840-denier nylon outer offers water repellency through years of abuse
- Welded seams for durable leak-free construction
- High density foam backing offers pliable structure and unparalleled protection
- Interior floating panel and foam divider contain zippered pockets for organizing smaller essentials
- Extremely heavy duty zipper with t-grip provides easy access to contents
- Zipper is splash, spray, and rain-proof, though not submersible
- Single shoulder strap is padded, removable, and adjustable
Leland on Patagonia Luggage & Gear Bags:
Like all responsible outdoor recreators, the people at Patagonia place a premium on keeping things dry
-- an especially important (not to say difficult) task when water is as
integral to a sport as it is to fly fishing. For waterproof
construction, Patagonia uses polyurethane-coated nylon -- fully impermeable, utterly bombpoof, and guaranteed to perform, season after season, on, in and around the water.
For boat-based anglers, the Patagonia Great Divider is a boat chest par excellence, offering impact protection as well as splashproofness. The same product in a smaller size, the Sub Divider, makes a fantastic shoulder-slung SLR case
for wading anglers, and does the same great job in a boat bottom. For
those who fish where heavy weather is common, Patagonia's Stormfront Pack is an outstanding design for a waterproof daypack and features a removable shoulder harness and hydration compatibility.
For carry-all haul bags, the Guidewater Duffel series makes an important contribution to the marketplace, what with its wet/dry compartmentalization and multiple size offerings: Regular (35L), Large (50L) and Max (92L).
As fly fishing luggage and gear bags go, these are some of the absolute finest around.
Leland on Patagonia:
One of the most admired and emulated firms in the outdoor marketplace, Patagonia is also one of the stalwarts in the fly fishing industry. From its humble beginnings as Yvon Chouinard's piton forging business to its ascendancy as one of the major houses in outdoor apparel and equipment, Patagonia has been marked by the same commitment to well-designed, well-made product, the same dedication to corporate social responsibility, and the same finger-on-the-pulse outdoor culture -- for almost forty years now.
Chouinard, still the company's head and something of an enlightened monarch,
is well known as an alpinist and a surfer, but is also an avid fly
fisherman. Atlantics, cutthroats, permit: he knows what he likes for
fish as well as for gear, and he maintains a hand in the processes of
product design to this day. Patagonia is a founding partner of '1% for the Planet', a league of environmentally progressive businesses, and the firm demonstrates its engagement with environmental stewardship in other ways as well. To minimize the inevitable ecological costs of manufacturing, Patagonia uses recycled-content fabrics where possible and -- more to the point, perhaps -- makes products that will perform at a high level for years without the need for a replacement.
Patagonia on the Sub Divider:
Padded, portable, highly water-resistant storage for anglers.
Just as tough and water resistant as the Great Divider, the Sub is a
compact, soft-sided boat chest that protects, hauls and organizes vital
gear. Reels, fly boxes, phone, flares or lunch all reside safely within
its protective custody when water-borne chaos rains down. Made from
840-denier double-polyurethane-coated nylon and patented molded top and
bottom pans for waterproof protection even in standing water (up to the
zipper). Welded seams eliminate leakage. Shock-absorbing high-density
foam gives the bag shape. Inside, an adjustable foam divider, floating
transparent panel and removable end pocket provide flexible
organization. Access is through a highly water-resistant zipper with
t-grip. Single, adjustable, removable, padded shoulder strap makes
hauling easy.
Patagonia on Patagonia:
Build the best product, cause no unnecessary harm, use business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis.
–Patagonia's Mission Statement
Patagonia
grew out of a small company that made tools for climbers. Alpinism
remains at the heart of a worldwide business that still makes clothes
for climbing – as well as for skiing, snowboarding, surfing, fly
fishing, paddling and trail running. These are all silent sports. None
requires a motor; none delivers the cheers of a crowd. In each sport,
reward comes in the form of hard-won grace and moments of connection
between us and nature.
Our values reflect those of a business
started by a band of climbers and surfers, and the minimalist style
they promoted. The approach we take towards product design demonstrates
a bias for simplicity and utility.
For us at Patagonia, a love
of wild and beautiful places demands participation in the fight to save
them, and to help reverse the steep decline in the overall
environmental health of our planet. We donate our time, services and at
least 1% of our sales to hundreds of grassroots environmental groups
all over the world who work to help reverse the tide.
We know
that our business activity – from lighting stores to dyeing shirts –
creates pollution as a by-product. So we work steadily to reduce those
harms. We use recycled polyester in many of our clothes and only
organic, rather than pesticide-intensive, cotton.
Staying true
to our core values during thirty-plus years in business has helped us
create a company we're proud to run and work for. And our focus on
making the best products possible has brought us success in the
marketplace.
Patagonia on the Oceans as Wilderness Campaign:
Fifty
million buffalo once roamed the rolling green prairies of North
America. Gunners reduced them to near extinction. Now, hunters are at
work on the rolling blue prairies of the sea, and already, the big fish
– including miracles like thousand-pound, warm-blooded bluefin tuna –
are 90 percent gone. What we regret happening on land, may again happen
in the sea. Those who care about wildlife should get to know about
oceans." – Carl Safina, "Comes a Turtle, Comes the World," Patagonia
2006 Heart of Winter Catalog
On land, we saw once what wildness
meant. Imagine it: 50 million buffalo. Passenger pigeons that flocked
so thick they covered the sun. A Spanish explorer sailing up the coast
of California described a beach with scores of grizzly bears feeding on
whale carcasses. Now, the vast numbers have dwindled or gone extinct.
Only a remnant reminds us of what was, the animals and land we
destroyed in our belief that there was a never-ending supply. We
protect them with the Endangered Species Act, wilderness areas and
hunting and fishing laws – having finally learned that we must.
And
so now the sea: In Maine, they used to catch lobsters by gaffing them
in shallow water by the shore. Cod were so numerous and so easily
caught that prisoners complained because they were fed the fish too
many times a week. Once, salmon returning from the ocean so crowded
rivers and streams that people told stories of walking on their backs.
Marlin, swordfish, mako, bluefin, abalone – everywhere in abundance.
We
need to train ourselves to see what is hidden under the surface of the
waters because fish stocks are in collapse and the oceans are in
trouble. Many recent studies, including the Pew Oceans Commission
(2003), have come to the same conclusions. The big fish, like that
thousand-pound tuna, are 90 percent gone. Newfoundland cod, wild
abalone, Atlantic halibut and Chilean sea bass are so scarce as to be
nearly nonexistent. Breeding swordfish populations have been cut in
half; marlin are rare. Pelicans in the Sea of Cortés starve for want of
fish to eat.
Coral reefs are crumbling, and the ocean floor is
plowed up by trawlers. Plastic kills seabirds and is found on the
beaches of the world's most remote islands. Surfers, swimmers and
lifeguards are vaccinated annually against hepatitis as a matter of
course. Tuna and swordfish have so much methylmercury in their bodies,
they are hazardous food for pregnant women and children. The causes are
many, but chief among them is an ugly trinity: unsustainable fishing
practices, habitat destruction and contamination.
Patagonia's
2006–07 environmental campaign was devoted to the oceans. Our goal was
to help us all see what is under the waters of the earth. How the vast
schools of tuna are like those herds of buffalo. How bottom trawling is
like clear-cutting an entire forest to get at a single tree. In our
catalogs, retail stores and on our Web site, we spent 18 months with
marine scientists and writers, surfers and fishermen, to teach
ourselves and our customers just how close the connection is between
the vitality of human life and the marine environment.
Our OAW
campaign helped bring about a great success for the oceans: the
reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, the primary law governing
fishing practices in U.S. waters. But our work on this issue is far
from over. The fishing holes, beaches and wetlands that we enjoyed as
children will not be there for our children unless we acknowledge that
the oceans belong to everyone and take seriously our shared
responsibility for long-term marine management.
