There are many throwlines on the market, and all have their pro and cons and places where we would use them. In this short article I’m going to explain what I think makes a good swim line for white water canoeing.
Things you want to consider when buying a line to be used as a swim line:
- Rope length and thickness
- Does the rope float
- How easily does it deploy itself from the bag when pulled on?
Rope length and thickness:
The more length you have the more time you have to swim. It also means when you get to the bank you have more rope to secure the boat around an anchor and get yourself out of the water. Having thicker rope, will make it easier to hold when the rope is under tension if you have a thin rope like the HF weasel throwline 7.5mm as soon as you put weight through it the rope stretches making it even thinner and ends up turning into cheese wire. Using thicker ropes like 11mm they have a higher breaking strength and when stretched under tension are a lot nicer to hold. Just remember when the boat is full of water it’s going to get super heavy and is going to put a lot of force through the rope.
How easily does it deploy itself from the bag when pulled on?
This is all to do with how the throw bag fastens shut. Most throwlines fasten shut using either a popper or Velcro the problem with these is they don’t always release when you pull on the rope whilst swimming. The best solution to this is having a shock cord style opening bag which stretches open when you pull the rope under tension making it easy for the rope to deploy.
So, what is the best throwline to use as a swim line on the market?
My personal opinion is the Palm Pro 25m Throwline.
- Shock cord neck closure.
- 10 kN static breaking strength.
- 11mm floating rope.
- 25 meters of rope.
- Big wide opening making it easy to re-pack.
Words by Josh Telling
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