Mystic's Guide to Impact Vests

So welcome to the wonderful world of floatation and protection. An impact vest by definition is an impact absorbent jacket for a variety of water-based sports. Typically used in the world of wakeboarding, however, in more recent years we have seen a rise in the use of them across a number of other water sports from big wave surfing to kiting.

Mystic were established back in 2002 by a group of kiteboarders and windsurfers who loved everything in the extreme but felt the existing equipment on the market was holding them back. As a brand they are all about embracing technology and new techniques each year into every line, this is something they build into their Impact Vest line with technology like NBR Foam, and a fully CE approved line up.

Different Budgets | Different Tech

NBR

All Mystic vests have a base level of Clash foam as standard, the innovative NBR foam is then added in key spinal areas on the vests, for maximum protection. It is designed to take very heavy impact and then disperse this hit throughout the padding so to protect the point of impact (your spine). This gives the vest a real “body-armour” feel, whilst maintaining maximum freedom of movement.

Flaremesh

The high-end vests like the Majestic, Dom and Diva also feature the same tech as the top end wetsuits in Mystic’s line. Materials like Flaremesh & FoxFleece are there to retain heat but also dry very quickly, typically used as a wetsuit liner. The result is a super comfortable, warm and lightweight vest.

CE Approved for Impact

Mystic are the one of the only impact vest manufacturers who have every single vest they make in their range independently tested in Europe and CE approved for impact. This comes as a standard regardless if you have purchased the most expensive vest in the line-up or the most affordable. Safety first!

A Vest for All Occasions

All water impact vests do more or less exactly the same job, however, they are usually slightly adapted to fit the needs of the user.

In the world of wakeboarding the vests are designed to cover the entire torso, it’s no coincidence that as the level of protection of the vests have improved, then so has the level of riding throughout the sport. If riders can confidently go bigger without as much risk, so does the level of the sport.

Kiteboarding vests are made in the same way as the wake vests however they have a gap no padding in the lower section of the vest to allow the harness to fit on comfortably.

With kiters going bigger and bigger the importance of a well fitted kite vest is essential for an all-ready thrillingly risky sport. Typically fitting tighter in the lower half of the torso without any foam for a harness to fit nice and snug and then the foam is added in the top half of the jacket to provide plenty of protection along with a small amount of buoyancy.

Check out the full Mystic range on the Wetsuit Outlet site, and stay safe on the water this summer in style!