Inflatable Kayak Blog

Most of this month’s blog posts have been about our recent visit to the Outdoor Retail Show in Salt Lake City. Over the next few months, I don’t doubt that there will be several more references to products or activities we saw or events we participated in during the first week of August, 2011. The show was huge and the variety of products were way too numerous to mention them all. I mainly wanted to summarize our visits with Sea Eagle, Innova and Advanced Elements inflatable kayaks, the lines we carry at PortableKayaks.com.

We found several other products that we may or may not add to our product line such as new life jacket designs and cooling towels. Plus there were many, many products that we came across that might be related to kayakers, depending on their other interests, such as pop-up tents, camping food, fly rods and so many more.

The show itself is big. The Open Air Demo on the first day was held at Lake Jordanelle State Park near Park City. It was a beautiful setting until the storms in the area kicked the wind up so that demo paddling was not as much fun as it could have been. We managed to walk (a lot) checking out the booths and participating in the Magellen GPS Cache Treasure Hunt. We each won a t-shirt. I did get to demo a few kayaks before the wind messed things up, but the storms stayed away and a good day was had by all.

The next two days were spent walking (a lot) inside the Salt Palace checking out the booths, sampling trail bars and camping food and being totally amazed by the varieties of products that are available in the outdoor marketplace. Also admiring the ingenuity that’s displayed in creating some of the products. I can’t count the number of times that I said “Wow, that’s unique.” For example, the new Go Pro Video Camera that takes 1080 dpi video in a waterproof case, the Sea Squirts children’s life jackets that I mentioned in a previous post and the Can Cooker that campers can use to cook an entire meal in one container or the Noggs sunglasses that have frames that are virtually indestructible.

I could go on, but if you’d like to check out some of the videos that were produced by the ORS staff, they are available here. One video features Sea Eagle’s Cecil Hoge talking about his company and what they are planning for the future. In another video, SurfTech talks about the rise in popularity of stand up paddling.

In conclusion, we had a great time, learned much and walked (a lot). I always enjoy the show and hope to return sometime in the next few years. And when we do, we’ll let you know about it here on the Inflatable Kayak Blog.

Cecil Hoge, the man behind the Sea Eagle brand of inflatable kayaks, inflatable boats and inflatable fishing pontoons has been attending the Outdoor Retail Show for many years. That’s understandable since Sea Eagle has been manufacturing inflatable crafts for over 40 years, since 1968.

I had a chance to talk with him and his son John about the company and his philosophy behind the development of the Sea Eagle line of products. Cecil mentioned how his goal was to be the best at what they do and it’s evident in their efforts to continually improve all aspects of the business from the communication with dealers to the product line, itself. In the 5 years we have sold Sea Eagle boats at PortableKayaks.com, I’ve noticed the effort.

In those past 5 years, Sea Eagle has expanded their product line in response to the needs of their customers.

* They have added the 370 to their lower end priced (under $350) kayaks to give customers a choice of sizes. The 370 is slightly larger than the 330 providing more leg room and weight capacity.

* The 285fpb Frameless Pontoon Boat answered the call for a  fishing pontoon that doesn’t require hard to assemble metal framing, while making it easy for only one person to use alone.

* As the popularity of stand up paddle boards progressed, Sea Eagle’s LongBoard 11 became one of the first inflatable versions on the market. The LongBoard may be the only SUP that offers a sit down option that can be paddled with a kayak paddle for those less adventurous flat water “surfers”.

* When Sea Eagle noticed how the drop stitch inflation technology made the SUPs hard enough to stand on, they added drop stitch floors to their new Fast Track kayaks and replaced the floors on their older Explorer Kayaks, resulting in improved tracking, something inflatable kayak manufacturers are always striving for. The Fast Track series also introduced a hard keel to further stiffen the kayak for better tracking. These two innovations alone have raised the bar for inflatable kayak design and development.

* And just a couple weeks ago, Sea Eagle debuted a fishing rig that allows paddlers to add swivel seats to the Fast Track kayaks and turn them into fishing kayaks.

What’s next? One of the first things John showed me at the Open Air Demo was the solar panel that was rigged to a 385ft Fast Track kayak with a prototype mounting bracket for a Torqeedo electric motor. Endless possibilities … and “green”, too.

There have been other developments as well, but these are some of the highlights. I can only wonder what the next 5 years will bring as Sea Eagle continues to design and develop inflatable crafts with the user clearly in mind.

The Outdoor Retail Show in Salt Lake City is a hotbed of new and innovative products, many that will make their official market debut in 2012 and some that have been around a few years. The last time I attended the show prior to this year was 2008 and one type of product still dominates as many of the conversations as it did then … stand up paddleboards.

Standup paddleboards, also referred to as SUP’s were just beginning their popularity rise three years ago and since then, they have become the fastest growing paddle sport in the world. The popularity is warranted, not only because of the workout benefits of the craft, which gives the body excellent ‘core’ exercise, but I think it’s also because they are just so “cool”.

Think about it. Over the past 4 decades, some of the “coolest” athletes in the world have been surfers. Surfer language has blended into our vernacular. Words such as “cool”, “hang loose” and “dude” are used by every age in every part of the country. Haven’t each one of us at one time or another wanted to be a “surf dude” or “dude-ess”, if you will.

Now, with a stand up paddleboard, anyone can be a surfer. Of course, you shouldn’t actually use them to surf because they are designed for flat water use and the inflatable SUP‘s can have a serious ‘taco’ effect when exposed to big waves, but, hey, you’re standing on a surf board in the water and you’re “cool”!

I mentioned my first experience was a dump on the rump, but I did manage to stay on the board for a couple minutes. Maybe I’ll try again someday if I get a chance, although kayaking fits me better. My point is that I “had” to try it because it was so “cool”.

I wouldn’t be surprised if SUP’s were still dominating conversations over the next couple years. The enthusiasm is still growing and interest remains high. And despite my dump, I urge you to give stand up paddle boarding a try if you have the chance. It’s “cool”!

We recently attended the Outdoor Retail Show in Salt Lake City (August, 2011). The show opens with an “open air demo day” where attendees can actually try out products on the water.

This year the Open Air Demo was held at Jordanelle State Park near Park City Utah, which is about 30 miles from Salt Lake City. The day started out beautiful with bright sunny skies and warm, not too hot, temperatures.

We always like to check out the various booths first. In addition to a huge variety of paddle sports companies that were there to demo their kayaks, stand up paddle boards and other crafts, there are also several related participants from clothing and material manufacturers to sunglasses to gps units and makers of energy drinks and trail bars. Free samples are common for many of the booths as they are encouraging retailers to carry their products in their stores. We picked up a few hats and t-shirts and grazed on the trail mixes and bars that were offered.

About noon we decided to do some paddling. My first experience was something I had wanted to try since our previous visit to the Outdoor Show three years ago, stand up paddleboards. It looks easier than it is, at least for me. I guess my balance was a little compromised because I was still recovering from some inflammation on my right knee. I was afraid to make any sudden movements and didn’t adjust very quickly to a wind gust. That resulted in a fall backwards into the water. Luckily my wife wasn’t fast enough to get the picture to embarrass me for life. I decided not to pursue the SUP again because I’d still be worried about my knee.

Our next stop was the Sea Eagle booth where they had a variety of crafts, including the LongBoard 11 SUP (I passed on that one), a PaddleSki, rigged with a sail and their very popular 385ft Fast Track inflatable kayak. Actually I passed on the PaddleSki, too since the wind was kicking up quite a bit more. My wife and I each paddled the Fast Track solo, then got in and paddled it as a tandem. Both of us felt that the 12 and a half foot kayak was easier to handle as a tandem. That may be because we’re so used to our 11 foot Sea Eagle 330 or because we’re so used to paddling tandem, which we do 95% of the time we paddle.

We really did like the extra room in the Fast Track and the hard, drop stitch floor made the 385ft feel very much like a hard shell. I can understand why the kayak has become so popular in such a short time. It’s a solid technological advance for inflatable kayaks.

That wind gust that tossed me off the SUP earlier was a precursor of more to come. After a few hours of really nice weather through noon, some storms began blowing into the area and, in some cases, the winds blew hard enough that some participants had to re-anchor or even take down their booths. The good thing was we never got any rain or thunder or lightning, but the wind gusted throughout most of the rest of the day. Only a few accomplished paddlers and other brave (?) souls attempted to paddle anything the rest of the day.

We had planned on paddling some of the Innova kayaks, including the new Innova Twist and Double Twist, which are two of the lightest inflatable kayaks on the market. Innova also was debuting their Swing kayak, which will be available in solo and tandem versions in Spring of 2012. The Innova Swing is a new design that features a deck. It’s an inflatable that looks like a hard shell. As I said, we planned on paddling them, but the windy conditions cancelled those plans.

It was a fun day, though. Getting up close and personal with all the products and innovations is a great experience. And that was just the first day of ORS 2011.

Kid Rock arrived at his latest concert announcement in a rather unusual way this past week, on a stand up paddle board. Rock is a big Detroit sports fan, so he brought along a couple of his Detroit Red Wing hockey buddies, Nick Lidstrom and Chris Chelios. The trio paddle surfed across the Detroit River and landed on Belle Isle Beach where the official announcement was made.

The concert is scheduled for August 12th at Comerica Park and is hoped to be a daylong celebration of Detroit, Kid Rock’s hometown. Other artists will perform during the show as well, then join in with Rock for a “jam” to close out the concert. Tickets go on sale June 11th. For more details you can visit the Detroit Free Press web site.

Former Detroit Red Wing Chris Chelios was the instigator of the stand up paddle board arrival. Even after his long career in the NHL, Chelios still keeps in great shape and has become a real enthusiast of stand-up paddle surfing.

Stand up paddling has become the fastest growing water sport over the past 2 years because it’s fun to do and it’s great exercise.