OneWheel Safety Gear

OneWheel is great, but I want to be safe when riding. After my (unrelated) accident in 2020 I'm super cautious about everything, so I got lots of safety gear. To help others, I have listed it below.

My main advice would be to ask advice, read reviews, and if possible go to a shop and try out the gear. For the knee and elbow guards I ended up going to a cycle shop and trying on ones to get something I liked. The one I ordered at the start were cheaper, but much less comfortable.

Wrist Guards - Triple 8 T8 Wrist Saver (Medium) Amazon

Sturdy and comfortable, not super easy to get on and off

Shoulder Brace - Amazon

Some padding for below a T-shirt, not sure how effective it might be, but I'd rather have it than a broken shoulder

Light Motorcycle Jacket - RXL Motorbike Softshell Hoodie - Amazon

Good jacket with built in padding on shoulders and elbows. Waterproof, windproof and warm, very easy to put on for winter/wet riding

Helmet - Core Protection Helmet - Amazon

Comfortable helmet with back of head protection. I remove the back internal pad and wear with a beanie inside it for wintertime.

Padded Shorts - Bodyprox - Amazon

Comfortable shorts with hip and tailbone protection. I wear these below shorts or jeans.

Elbow Protection - Fox Racing Launch Pro D3O - Chain Reactions

Comfortable and very good protection

Knee Protection - Nukeproof Critical Enduro Knee Sleeve - Chain Reactions

Good protection, and stay easily in place

Shin Protection - Footprint Painkiller High Socks -

Smaller fitting than I expected, but still great protection for the shin
 

Kitesurfing - 13th Oct 2020 - Benone

Back to Benone tonight after work, NE wind, which is my un-favourite direction, but huge flats, mushy waves, and a great time! I actually really enjoyed the challenge of working on my 'bad' direction, and I'm constantly surprised how much more difficult it is to go in one direction than the other!

My first run out, I had one of those little double waves, and normally I'd jump from one to the other, but this time the second one put me in!

Anyway, it was great to be on the water for an hour between work and tea - working from home really works for this, I can be on the beach for 4:15pm, and home for tea, and the whole evening is still available. 

Kitesurfing - 12th Oct 2020 - Benone

 Crazy wind all day, really nice direction, but I only had a short session, as the wind dropped about an hour after I arrived. Should have went earlier :)

Photos don't do justice at all - the views were epic, as rain blew through to the south - such gnarly skies!

Kitesurfing - Benone - 19th August 2020

 Great wee session, there has been no wind at all for weeks (which is quite nice) but tonight we were getting the start of a storm. The forecast was for E or SE, but I thought I'd chance Benone, to see if the wind was strong enough, and had come round far enough - and it had.

It was cross, sometimes very slightly cross off, but at Benone that's ok, as with the curve towards Magilligan you'd always blow back to shore.

It was 9m weather, on the meter blowing between 15mph and 21mph, although on the water I never felt underpowered, if anything a bit overpowered sometimes.

It was my bad direction, I dont like it, but I used it as practice. The wave frequency was high, it was one after another, relentless on the way out, but on the way in it was great. I did some toeside riding, which is the first time I tried it to that side, and it seemed ok, better than I thought, I also tried some jumps on the way in (my good direction) and I also *almost* pulled off some jump transitions. I say 'almost' because it wasnt that beautiful.

Short but super session.

Kitesurfing - Downhill - Sunday 19th July 2020

Short session today at Downhill, perfect wind on the 9, big to huge waves, at least 10 ft at the outside. Short session as the tide was coming in. No problem staying upwind today. Huge flats between the waves, but very deep very quickly today.

Kitesurfing - Ball's Point - Thursday 16th July 2020

I drive past Lough Foyle every day, and every day I wonder if there isn't some really nice flat water spot on it. Well, it turns out there is.

A couple of the local guys invited me for a session out here today, and it turned out to be pretty epic. This is a high tide spot, and when I arrived there was still some sand exposed, although the tide was coming in quickly.

I got set up, it was a bit marginal for the 12, but after a while it picked up. The amazing thing about this spot is how far out the water is shallow, you could go out for ages and fall, and still only be waist deep.

There are a few post stumps very close to the launch spot, and you need a sand anchor to launch, which was exposed when I got there, and submerged when we left.

Did an accidental kiteloop jump today. Oops.

Kitesurfing - Downhill - Monday 13th July 2020

What a lovely evening - with the bank holiday the beach was crowded at the entrances, I had trouble finding a quiet area on the beach today!

The wind was cross, blowing nicely, sometimes too much for the 12 sometimes too little, but I was going fine for around 2 hours on the water with some trim.

Didn't get to try much today, the chop was unreal, it actually reminded me of Fuerteventura (without the razor sharp rocks :) ) but it was very difficult sometimes just to ride. There was also a weird wave pattern, where waves all came in twos, and it was the second one that was the good ramp, but it wasn't possible to get to it because of the first one.

Very little flat water today, even in the shallows, although the flats came and went a bit. Upwind was fine today, even with big jumps I was staying in the same spot - maybe something to do with the currents?

I had one incident today, the kite went down (a few times today!) and as I was steering to get it back up, it suddenly powered up, but the centre lines were wrapped around the bar, or more accurately wrapped around my hand. It powered up, trapping my hand on the bar; couldn't pull it out at all, very painful. I got it freed, got the lines round the side, and was able to sail on. I was a bit concerned that I'd done something, but the pain quickly subsided, and I kept going. When I got home, I see a little swelling and a couple of small bruises - not too bad!

Anyway, it was a great session out on the water, and I came in just before it looked like it was going to rain (although I'm not sure it ever came)