Tuilik Pockets Coming in January

Wish you had your camera, VHF radio or water bottle handy on your next paddle off the coast? Need a place to stow your gloves, sunglasses or pen flares? Bug Head is answering your need by developing optional chest and sleeve pockets for our tuiliks. Made by the same sewing shop that supplies Kokatat with its mesh pockets, Bug Head's pockets are sized and detailed for capacity, convenience and security. Details include locking zipper, carabiner-type swivel hook, knife attachment tab, and expandable mesh. Will be available on new tuiliks only (i.e. no retrofitting -- sorry). Coming in January 2009.

Bug Head's New Look?

Photographer Frank Chillemi, a Bug Head customer based in Merrick, New York, sent us this awesome advertisement demo to drive home our "Tuiliks for our times" slogan. "You seem to have a good supply of photos with rugged, bearded men," writes Chillemi about the Bug Head website. "I wanted to go in a different direction." Chillemi succeeded by featuring a paddle-ready young woman wearing a Bug Head heavyweight tuilik in Forest Green. Her determined expression is both subdued and inquisitive. "Erika is from North Carolina," explains the photographer. "She is a crewmember on the tall ship 'J. & E. Riggin' based in Rockland, Maine. I teach a one week photo course aboard that ship every year. Erika has been around rafts, canoes and kayaks -- mostly whitewater -- since she was a kid. She is a natural model." Now where to place the ad . . . .

Language Crisis: Tuiliks or Tuilitt?

Unsure whether to spell it 'tuilik' or 'tuiliq'? The confusion over our favorite piece of gear just deepened. The Qajaq USA website reports that the Greenlandic plural of tuilik is "tuilitt" not tuiliks. (Only English adds an "s" to form the plural of a noun.) Should Bug Head go native and become Bug Head Tuilitt? No way we say. Marketing is tough enough as it is without adding incomprehensibility to our name. Besides, it's all moot. As Greenland champion Maligiaq Padilla (photo) points out, a neoprene tuilik is called a 'tuilisaq.' Now what's the Greenlandic plural of that?

Price Hike In January

In January 2009, Bug Head will raise its prices on many of its products. A basic black tuilik will remain $350 but other colors (brown, ivory, gray, dark gray, forest green or polar bear blond) will cost an additional $75. Likewise, a black akuilisaq (Greenland-style spray skirt) will remain $145 with other colors $35 extra. The increase is in response to the difficulty of keeping non-black neoprene clean during the manufacturing process.

Is A 1.5 mil Tuilik Right For You?

Can't decide between a 3 mil or 1.5 mil tuilik? Weighing comfort versus durability but tired of that knight-in-armor feeling? Lightweight tuiliks made from 1.5 mil neoprene may not be for everyone but if you overheat in your 3 mil when wearing it over a drysuit, it's probably for you. For ease of paddling and freedom of movement, a 1.5 can't be beat. Head might get cold? If a skull cap isn't your cup of tea, Bug Head will put on a 3 mil hood on your 1.5 body. Sweet! Neoprene colors include black, brown, ivory, gray, dark gray, forest green and polar-bear blond.

White Rubber Neoprene?

You've heard right. Bug Head's popular polar-bear blond color neoprene is made with white not black rubber, a special order from our Taiwan-based neoprene manufacturer. While just as durable as black rubber, white rubber makes the fabric color more vibrant when wet. Dull ivory becomes "polar-bear blond" when the rubber is changed from black to white. Our Polar-Bear blond color comes in 1.5 mil, 2 mil, and 3 mil thicknesses of neoprene.

Bug Head At Delmarva

What do Maligiaq Padilla, Brian Schulz and Dubside have in common? Besides possessing filthy paddling skills -- all will be wearing Bug Head tuiliks at Delmarva, the paddling retreat in Delaware this October 17-19. Sponsored by Qajaq USA, Delmarva is an annual event that brings together Greenland-style paddlers from all over the planet for three days of traditional kayaking skills instruction and fun. And Bug Head is coming too -- in the person of Scott Bruce, who'll be there with a bunch of tuiliks to meet Bug Head's ever growing boatload of Bug Head gear owners.

CLC Kayaks Added To Our Spray Skirt Index

Want to get a Bug Head tuilik for your CLC Arctic Hawk or Night Heron but don't know which skirt size to order? No problem. Bug Head has added Chesapeake Light Craft kayaks to our web site's skirt index. The cockpit measurements for 38 of CLC's touring and surf kayaks are listed model by model. Our index enables you to quickly determine which tuilik or akuilisaq skirt size is right for your kayak -- whether it has an ocean or a large keyhole cockpit.

Now Making Neoprene Alterations & Repairs

Brooks tuilik hood to big? Sleeves too narrow to fit over your dry suit? Tuilik so long you're tripping over rocks? Leaky seams need sealing? Bug Head now makes alternations and repairs to tuiliks, akuilisaqs (spray skirts) and other neoprene items to insure that your gear fits you and your paddling needs.

Lightweight (1.5 mil) Tuilik Great for Winter

Sweating in your thick 3 mil tuilik? Dreading this winter when you'll be wearing it over your drysuit? Bug Head has an answer to one of kayaking's greatest challenges -- overheating. Our lightweight tuilik is constructed from thin 1.5 mil (1/16") neoprene for comfort on the water in any season. All neoprene seams are glued, stitched and sealed for strength and the fixed or adjustable bottom casing will fit any ocean or keyhole cockpit with a positive seal (see our "Skirt Index" to determine the correct skirt size for your kayak). Tired of black? Lightweight tuiliks also come in brown, gray, dark gray, forest green, ivory and polar-bear blond.