Spring Shows!

It's spring time and people are ready to get back out on the water after a cold winter in North America. I recently attended two paddle sports shows and had the opportunity to meet thousands of paddlers.

The first was Canoecopia in Madison Wisconsin, sponsored by Rutabaga. This was the first year for Epic and myself at this show - the largest of its type in North America. I taught classroom sessions on the Forward Stroke, Training for Paddling and The Olympic Experience. It was fun to see many of my friends from the Midwest - some whom I had not seen for several years.

We had a lot of interest in our V10 Sport with the newly designed seat. The new V10 Sport seat is about half way between the V10 and old V10 Sport seats in width. I based the new seat on a slightly scaled up version of our V12 seat which many customers claim is the most comfortable surf ski seat yet. It strikes a good balance of allowing plenty of hip room for most paddlers, while keeping those who have narrower hips centered in the bucket without the need for hip pads.

This past weekend was the Paddlesport 2010 show in Somerset, NJ hosted by The Jersey Paddler. This was a last minute decision to attend by me, going along to support Vince Bechet, our new manager of North American operations. The organizers found a couple openings in their speaker's schedule so I could give a talk on Training for Paddling on Saturday afternoon and another talk on The Olympic Experience on Sunday afternoon.

In New Jersey, we were impressed by the renewed interest in our 16X touring kayak. This is a great all around boat for all types of paddling. The 16' overall length is easy to manage, while the full length waterline gives good speed and performance. In fact, at speeds up to 5 mph (8 km/hr), the 16X can stay with our 18X and 18X Sport models with nearly the same paddling effort. It's only at higher intensities that the additional waterline length of our 18' boats start to show significantly higher speeds. The 18' boats are clearly faster when reaching speeds over 6 mph (10 km/hr), and also paddle with less effort when loaded with heavier loads (over 220 lbs or 100 kg of paddler plus gear). But for many paddlers of average size (or smaller) paddling at cruising speeds, the 16X is extremely efficient.

The next show for me and Epic will be the East Coast Canoe & Kayak Festival in Charleston SC, April 16-18. I'll be teaching a full assortment of classes at this event including several on the water Forward Stroke sessions. We'll have the full line of Epic boats and paddles available for testing. I look forward to seeing many of you there.

- Greg