Bagged…. by John Pasmore

I’ve had some pretty not so great bags over the course of a variety of years. And some good ones. Lately I’ve been looking to find a one that could do double duty; work + outdoor would be ideal but is a long shot.

For work, generally, I use a Filson, which is canvas and leather, doesn’t look like a backpack (a plus) and works fine. One of my best purchases was made a decade ago; a Mandarina Duck bag I scored while in Italy. From what I could tell they don’t make it anymore — it’s a black duffel that has hidden shoulder straps if you want to carry it on your back. I think I used those once in ten years (shoulder strap is fine).  I have this thing about luggage-on-wheels. I understand that it’s practical, but I can’t pull the string. I dunno, if it’s too heavy to carry then unload it and try again. Seems a little geriatric.

It’s about time to retire the Duck, but not critical. Sailing is. So I’ve tried a couple bags sailing. And by sailing lets say day-sails, racing, or even long weekends — nothing major. Ideally, this new bag would work as a day-pack as well. For overnight outdoors I have an old (decade) Marmot Shooting Star (3500 Cubic inches), another bag no longer in production.

I’ve looked at the usual bag suspects and have included a bunch of links. But I saw only few good choices for sailing. Most “sailing” bags are 100% waterproof which is kinda important, but most of the time your bag won’t get wet. I think waterproof bags/sacks inside a water resistant bag is fine, so I went with it. For interior waterproof bags I use Pacific Outdoor drybags with an airvent (pneumo) that allows you to compress the air out of the bag easier than a regular roll-top. They’re great.

So after looking at:

Motorcycle pack: Ergon

Sailing Packs/Bags: Harken

Kayak/Messenger: Sealline (which I like)

Patagonia Duffle (too expensive)

Trendy Master Piece Fade Black (ehh…too expensive a little too big)

Another Motorcycle Pack: Kriega

and even classic Fjallraven – not practical for sailing

and even more not worth mentioning, I went with Ortovox, (pictured above) why?

Made for skiing, its pretty water resistant (has not arrived yet so this is a guess). So will work for skiing, fine for outdoors, should be fine for boating, and maybe even for trips (like vacation if I can squeeze one in). In any case will update as I get insight and am, you know, looking…