Outdoor Retailer Show On Water Demo

The trade show for Outdoor Retailers comes early this year so we all left our posts in the heat of the season and headed to the heat of Salt Lake City. The on water demo takes place the first day of the show. Here are some pics from the day.

The on water hydration station from Emotion Kayaks.

Andy Knapp Memorial Paddle.

A perfect day for Costa Del Mar to help people "see what's out there".

Tom Strauss of Emotion Kayaks is ready to play.

ESP Outdoors and Penguin Paddler's Demo Evening

What a blast we had a Whiskey Town Lake just west of Redding CA last Friday night. The weather could not have been more agreeable. The lucky people that call this area their home are fortunate to have nice warm water to play in. It just makes you want to get out messin' around in boats...

Owner of Penguin Paddlers/ESP Outdoors, Garth Schmeck took some time to show all the cool ways to roll his new Greenland boat. What a fun way to spend a Friday evening.

Here are some underwater vids that show the body mechanics of various front and back sculling braces and rolls. Thanks Garth...you make it all look so fun. Ain't that the point...!?

Spitfire Kayak

I had a great time showing Northern California Kayaks the 8' Spitfire Kayaks. Head Instructor, Del Davidson, is really excited to use the Spitfire as an introduction to the sport of kayaking craft. Specifically, he think that it will work great in a pool course he teaches that emphasizes the ease of re-entering a sit on top. He also hosts kid's kayaks camps and plans to use the Spitfire to be a great launching point for young new paddlers.

Del had no problem making the boat go where he needed it to go and was impressed with the capacity of the 8' Spitfire.

Bending Branches and Aquabound Rendezvous, St Croix WI

The entires sales force all flew in from our own hamlets and territories to meet at the Aquabound & Bending Branches Paddle factory this week. I know that everyone had to put a lot on hold back in the home turf but it was well worth getting together.




Everyone should have a hand made wood paddle in their quiver. They have the benefits of natural flex, comfortable on the hands, smooth in the water. In the under $200 price range I don't think there is a better choice for kayak paddles. Mother nature had it right all along.

The last time I toured the factory was in February of 09, shortly after the merger of Aquabound and Bending Branches paddles. A lot of new machinery, equipment and raw materials had just been moved from British Columbia. Everyone at the factory had already put in 2 exhausting months and yet there was still work to do. Viewing the factory this week was a wonderful "show and tell" of how much can be accomplished in such a short time. All the paddle materials were now neatly organized in large industrial shelves. The various machinery had clearly been whirling all season and the paddle craftsmen/women had proudly mastered another bag of tricks.

Bending Branches/Aquabound can now build to order the entire wood, aluminum, fiberglass and carbon paddles all the Osceola WI facility. Every day, yesterday's orders are shipped!

Put a pile of enthusiastic paddlers and industry insiders in a room together for two days and ideas begin to rain like it has been out west this spring. Everynight, we buffered the intensity of the day's meeting with good wisconsin fried cheese curds and ale.

The final day of the meeting left us with enough time to take a lazy float down the St Croix River. What a great spot to have in your backyard. We paddled and joked all afternoon. I enjoyed being on a river that has so much history with the trade, timber and native aspects of our country. Like any good Fourth of July paddle, we finished up with a grill out at one of the many parks that line this National Wild & Scenic designated river.