Leland on the Patagonia Guidewater Vest:
Whether you're reaching for your camera, your floatant, a fly box, or some tippet,
the ability to get fast, one-handed access can be critical: a beached fish can bring off an impressive escape if you're not quick about getting your glory shot, and sometimes you only have a minute to work an emerger before trout switch to the duns. The Patagonia Guidewater Vest recognizes that
single-movement, one-handed access is the ultimate feature in a fly fishing vest, but also that
structure and support are just as critical in fly fishing as in backpacking or any other sport. With its
radical vest/chest-pack hybridity, the Guidewater Vest shows that a set of aesthetics, no matter how classic, should never trump technical functionality.
Leland on Specifications:
With the Guidewater Vest, Patagonia takes
yet another step toward adapting the classic fly fishing vest for modern anglers. As far as at-your-fingertips access goes, vests can't be beat, but sometimes fit, carriage, and heat-of-the-moment usability can get lost in the mix. Making use of curved zippers to seal and open the main vest pockets, the Guidewater Vest totally
eschews velcro flaps and their line-snagging tendencies, and its well-balanced, contoured fit means the vest
will never yield and sag as you try to reach deep into a pocket. With enough structure to supremely distribute weight and enhance usability,
the Patagonia Guidewater Vest is as much as tackle pack that you wear around your torso as it is a fly fishing vest.
Specifications:
- Mesh/stretch fabric mosaic offers airy support and smooth, even carriage
- Fully padded shoulders and structured harness for long days of fishing in comfort
- Two zinger docks astride the main zipper to keep tools handy
- Handwarmer pockets lined with brushed mesh
- High volume zippered pocket on back has mesh bellows that double as vents
- Specially designed zipper-pulls stay free of line
- Removable fly patch
- Built-in stowable rod-holder
Leland on Patagonia Fly Fishing Vests:
Fly fishing vests are always something of a nod to tradition, and the fine line-up provided by Patagonia is no exception. But once you put your hands on these vests -- the Guidewater, the Riverwalker, the Highwater PFD, and the Pack Vest -- you'll know for sure that this is fly fishing gear for the 21st century. Advanced, recycled-content fabrics, unrivaled attention to ergonomics, and a well-planned piece-specific specialization characterize today's line of Patagonia fly fishing vests.
The Guidewater Vest, with its light-but-robust structure and plentiful storage, is the top-choice of gear-intensive anglers who value innovation as well as tradition. For those water-pliers who want a more economical package, both in terms of weight and cost, there's the Patagonia Riverwalker Vest, a mesh design that's been consistently honed since 1987. Boat-based anglers will be pleased by the Highwater PFD Vest, a fishing-specific personal flotation device or 'life vest' that has come into its own after years in development, and provides low-profile safety and security in what can be a dangerous sport. Finally, for those fly fishermen and -women really committed to putting on miles -- as, for example, those fishing New Zealand -- Patagonia offers the now-classic Pack Vest, a modular on-water organization system with daypack and fishing vest components that can be worn together or separately, depending on the demands of the day.
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 Guidewater Vest:
Blurring the distinction between jacket, vest and pack, this "vest"
employs an innovative, curved-zipper, panel organization system. This
radical departure from convention means vastly improved visibility of,
and access to, vest contents with one, single-handed motion.
Innovative design and technology applied to the fishing vest concept
blurs the distinction between jacket, vest and pack. Our Guidewater
Vest replaces flap-covered pockets with a curved-zipper panel
organization system. This departure from convention means improved
visibility of, and access to, vest contents with one single-handed
motion. The angler-designed storage system conveniently and intuitively
organizes fly boxes, tippet material and tools. Additional details:
mesh and stretch-woven polyester construction, padded shoulder support,
brushed-mesh lined handwarmer pockets, two internal zip pockets, back
snap storage, attachment points, removable fly patch and built-in rod
holder.
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.
