C-Forum

http://www.whitewaterhelmet.com/helmet_recall.html

Voluntary Recall Demand

Pro-Tec Full-Cut Whitewater Helmet

Although lacking any official sanction by any governing body in whitewater recreation, Whitewater Research & Safety Institute is continuing what we believe will be a benefit to the safety of members of whitewater communities throughout the US and the World of Whitewater Recreation:

The Institute hereby demands a full and complete, voluntary recall of the Pro-Tec Full-Cut Helmet sold for $39.95 at most whitewater gear retail stores and through catalogues. We know most of you are familiar with this helmet and may have owned one. If you do own one, or know someone who does, DO NOT WEAR THIS HELMET while participating in whitewater recreational activities. The inferior strap system will not prevent this helmet from rotating backwards on your head, and could thereby expose your forehead to dangers in the hydraulics of the rapids. BE AWARE, you can be killed wearing this helmet from potential blunt head trauma injuries. This helmet is a converted inline skating helmet! Our collection of email messages, statistical accident information and injuries/fatalities data implicate the lack of protection this particular helmet provides as a contributing factor leading to the cause of blunt head trauma injuries that may lead to death.

Note:
Although we initiated this demand more than 2 years ago, and have communicated it many times to Pro-tec (Vans), they have chosen to repeatedly ignore us. Consequently, we have received a lot of email from “boaters” who were wearing this helmet and sustained serious head injuries. Many of these injuries appear to be caused by blunt head trauma impacts sustained to the forehead, which can affect your state of consciousness and possibly lead to drowning. If, by unfortunate chance, you have sustained a head injury while wearing this helmet, please email us what happened along with your phone number and we will see that it is forwarded to Pro-tec (Vans). Please send any images you may have collected about your accident.

Safe boating,

Gil Turner
gil@whitewatersafety.com

Now you tell me,I just got mine from UPS today.

Mike

I think that's pretty old, but if you are still boating with a Pro-Tec it's probalby not very wise if you are running violent rivers with lots of shallow rocks (all rivers?)
I just got one of these puppies...
http://steepcreeks.com/fna_helmets

I put my name on the waiting list for the new WRSI helmet. Until the helmets start being shipped I guess that I'll just have to keep wearing my Protec. At least wearing a Protec is better than wearing a baseball cap.


Jim M

...I have to promote FNA helmets here as well. I got
one of those XStream helmets ant it is fantastic.
I don't know how easy they are to get in the US
but for Canadians FNA makes probably the best helmets available.

http://www.fnaheadgear.com

At

http://www.open-canoe.de/open-sucks

there is a short review of the helmet. There are also
some other great designs.

Cheers, Jan

where is the distributor for FNA in Canada, i thought they were from the UK.......i am in Saskatchewan and cant find diddly

Faron lives in Chilliwack, BC.
Check his Link in my post above or give him a call.
Simple.

Cheers, Jan

I have to promote my choice of helmet here, the Galasport G-Extreme. very solid carbon-aramid (kevlar) construction, excellent strap system (similar to Cascade), there is no way this helmet getes rotated backwards.
As importantly for me is coverage of the helmet, and there are i.m.h.o. few out there on the market today that can compete with the G-Extreme, plus it allows you to attach a faceguard (few of the helmets on the market allow you to do so these days.
Granted , it's not the most stylish one out there, but I take protection over style any time.

check them out at: http://www.galasportpaddles.com/

martin

Two very good recommended replacement helmets have been offered in this thread (FNA and Galasport).

Any other suggestions?

My Grateful Heads Hardhit has been very good to me.

Yes, I agree, my Grateful heads "Drop Zone" is one of the best
not full-cut helmets I have tried. The coverage is very good, its light and very tough.

...some people really like the sweet "holy diver" for stuff where good coverage is important. I don't like the price of that one.

Jan

I really like my Bell. Comfortable, stiff, great coverage. It's plastic, but meets the European standard. Too bad it's no longer in production

I really liked the Lidds composite + EPP construction and at the time I bought my "NATO" they were about the only readily available helmet with some ear coverage. They seem to have disappeared in the Watermark consolidation ...

Resin Heads has some nice helmuts (I believe they sell simply via PS Composites now days). Some are definitely more cosmetic than safe, but the helmets that they bill as being full coverage and safe I've found to be very well thought out.

That said, I've heard quite a bit of research went into the helmuts first posted, though the fellow does seem to have a bit of an ax to grind (perhaps rightly so...I don't know the specifics of the incident...).


For a bit of background in what you may want to look for in a helmet (by C1Deli): http://www.cboats.net/faq/hats.shtml

Just to be a contrary voice on the basic premise...

Maybe it's because my Protec fits my head perfectly, but even with the strap a little slack, the helmet won't rotate more than about 3/4" back (and that's pulling on it hard). It fits my head so well that it takes several pounds force just to shift it at all (before the slight slack in the chin strap is taken up), even though it's still quite comfortable. They don't describe any failure of the strap, so if it's all the same with them, I'm going to keep wearing it.

So it looks klunky. Sue me.