Rock the Boat


Sea Kayaking is SUFFERING


THERE’S MORE TO IT than putting butts in boats BY JOHN DOWD


>> THESE DAYS SEA KAYAKING in North America is in danger of being dumbed down by the emphasis on selling the largest number of cheap boats to the largest number of people. Some big companies have discovered that the money is in beach-toy “rec boats” rather than the more com- plex sea kayak. And sea kayaking is the loser. Sea kayaking has been around in North America for


about 100 years, but it was not until enthusiast paddlers got their business acts together in the late ’70s and early ’80s that it emerged from the clubs and became an industry profitable enough to employ people. The result was a dra- matic increase in the quality and availability (and price) of kayaks and kayak accessories. There was a flourishing of books and magazines that spread the word and raised the level of the information pool—sea kayaking is after all an information-based activity. During the ’90s some of the most successful companies


were bought out by large corporations that attempted to manufacture and market kayaks like they were plastic gar- bage cans—cheap and nasty little boats with a minimum of finicky features such as bulkheads, hatches and deck lines. At first the specialty kayak retailers welcomed these rec boats, believing that it would be good to get more “bums in boats” and everything would grow from there. But that has not happened. Instead, many customers are being diverted


What to do? We


can learn something from the experience of paddlers on the other side of that big kayaking pond. The Japanese went about sea kayaking from quite a different direction. They started with the large corporations whose execu- tives identified kayaking as the new trend in North America during the late ’80s. Companies whose real business was steel or carpets raced to buy up all the spare production they could find around the world. Glossy catalogues displayed pages of sea kayaks and department stores carried some of the best boats available. Pretty soon the bubble burst in Japan and, disillusioned


by the lack of profitability and the slow penetration of the activity into the general population, most of the big players got out of sea kayaking as fast as they got into it. During those initial years, however, some very determined pad- dlers got into the sport. A small number of specialty stores


In Japan, there was not a rec boat to be seen.


into dead end boats unsuitable for more than mucking about off the beach. They do not learn about the sea or how to self rescue; they don’t do courses or buy the accessories which are a big part of the specialty retailer’s business. Meanwhile, the production and sale of well-made sea


kayaks has fallen, and specialty stores are feeling the pres- sure from discount no-service sporting goods stores and big box stores.


26 | | ADVENTURE KAYAK fall 2006


sprang up. When the boom faded away, they were there to pick up the pieces and nurture sea kayaking in much the same way that it grew in North America during the ’80s. On a recent trip to Japan, I saw many causes for opti-


mism. First, there was not a rec boat to be seen. There was a hunger for knowledge, particularly the details of seaman- ship. Many of the local paddlers had long international kayak trips to their credit and many were highly skilled.


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52