Just completed day one at the Outdoor Retail show here in Salt Lake City UT. Yesterday consisted of setting up the "Open Air Demo" up at Pineview Reservoir about 1 hour from Salt Lake City. The water was nice and warm though the location was a bit cramped as a last minute location change forced smaller booth spaces.
So, here's what was new and notable:
Bending Branches has a nice new carbon shafted/wood bladed canoe paddle called the sunburst. It has a nice grip and is super light.
Emotion Kayaks came out with a new 10' sit on top called the temptation which is probably one of the most comfortable sit on tops they have made so far. It has an integrated seat back and a very contoured seat arrangement. Very stable yet easy to edge a bit. I think this will be a great rental and entry level boat that should handle most conditions nicely.
Pak Boats completed an all new look for their folding kayaks. The deck material is a nice polyester fabric with a much more modern look. The seat on the XT 15 was THEE most comfortable kayak seat that I have ever set on/in. Great boat! I'm very excited!
Esquif Canoes Has a new solo 15 foot canoe that is extremely stable. Any one can paddle this boat and I think it has a lot of potentional as a Solo plus dog or child. The new Raven by Bob Foote has one of the nicest and inviting feels for a solo WW canoe. The shoulders of the boat were very predictable and it looks really dry. I'll be owning one for sure.
Legacy Paddlesports has added to their new prop driven peddle kayak line and they also had 2 motorized kayaks. Here we go....
Stand Up Paddle Boards Last year there were a few at the demo and now BANG! Too Many to choose from! Many times during the day there were more people practicing their stand up skills on these than in kayaks. Seems like the new craze, but the market is already saturated as everyone jumped on the band wagon. In related bandwagon crazes, Crocs are still around and people are still wearing them. Yuck.
Current Designs added a couple of CanYaks (hybrid canoe/kayaks type boats) to their line. They also have a long sit on top touring kayak that looks like it came from the Solstice line of boats. Pretty full featured.
Confluence was on the far end of the beach and I didn't go check out what was new. I hear they have a few thermo formed boats. I did see a cool looking new hatch on some of their boats that looked like a combination rubber hatch with handles to open it.
All the new boats, paddles and now paddle boards were out to try. I thought that attendance of dealers was down. The overall buzz around the beach is that most of the manufacturers are finally losing interest in this OR show. It really costs them a lot of money which eventually just makes its way as increased product costs for consumers. Maybe I was just listening to like-minded individuals as I think that this show is one of the least creative and over produced ways to meet with clients. Plus, besides today, the OR show is under big lights in the Salt Lake Convention Center. Boring...
I'll try to get more details tomorrow. One thing for sure, prices are going up...
