I happened to stop at a West Marine store the other day while hunting around for books on celestial navigation. Lo, and behold! West Marine actually stocks Myerchin knives. They had in a case an A500 and a B001 set.

I'd been eying Myerchin's web site for some time, since I've heard good things about Myerchin, and I've been interested in a good rope knife. I spent a lot of time doing stage rigging, so I know the value of a good rope knife.

Anyway, the close-up view was enough for me to decide that I had to have one. So I bought two. I found a great deal on two A508 sets (the A500 knife, plus the big marlinespike) at Landfall Navigation. Two sets (one for me, one for the wife) for $114.95 plus shipping. That's as opposed to $79.95/ea direct from Myerchin.

They'll make nice additions to my other water knives (Benchmade 100RR [first prod run, even] and a couple of Gerber Moray's). The A500 is a single-piece 440C stainless sheepsfoot serrated blade with a slot for shackle opening in the handle.

I also stopped at REI and picked up a couple of the new Petzl Zipka Plus'. The light output is much higher than the original Zipka, at the cost of some battery life, but the Zipka Plus also includes four different modes (high, medium, low, flasher) that can give up to 400 hours (flasher) from 3 AAA's. High power mode is 80 hours as opposed to 150 (I think) for the original. The new Zipka plus also comes in a much nicer color (drab as opoosed to blue) and has four LED's instead of three.

I also picked up a couple more Snow Peak titanium Spork's. Now I have a total of four (two for me, two for wife). Next is four sets of the Snow Peak titanium fork, spoon, knife set...I like to be prepared for unexpected friends on the road/in the woods/in an emergency. The titanium stuff is so light, I don't mind packing extras!

Oh, and I got a good laugh from my wife because I also got her her very own U-Dig-It. The best pooper scooper on the market!