innova sunny


length: 12’8” width: 33” weight: 33 lbs material: Nitrylon capacity: 396 lbs price: $649 US $1050 Cdn contact: www.innovakayak.com


It was the day after an evening of rigorous boat testing with Innova’s Sunny inflatable kayak. I rolled it out if its backpack and pumped it up to dry in the sun before I shipped it back. I was attending a kayak and canoe come-and-try-it day at a city reservoir. The Sunny was the only inflatable on the beach surrounded by hundreds of hardshells. For international travel the Innova Sunny is tough, packable and amaz- ingly stable—your sense of adven- ture isn’t stunted by your kayaking abilities. I’d read about extreme adventure races and crazy inflatable expeditions down God-forsaken jun-


gle rivers. But in my snobbery I had- n’t considered why anyone else would bother with an inflatable. It wasn’t long before the dealer hosting the event was pumping up their Innovas and putting them on the water. As fast as one SCUBA diver would hop out of our Sunny, a dad and kids would jump in. Nobody seemed to care that the Sunny is made of Nitrylon—1,200-denier polyester sandwiched between layers of natural and synthetic rubber—can be paddled tandem or solo, has a removable tracking fin, and cruises at a respectable four knots. I learned that fun and safe-looking inflatable kayaks like the Sunny not only appeal to world travellers, they attract people who have other things in mind like fishing, birding, and floating their own neighbourhood Mekong River.—SM


Briefcase Boat File: Jungle Quest


After seven years, four expeditions and four inflatable boats, I final- ly stood beneath Venezuela's Angel Falls, the world's tallest waterfall. The fourth and final trip technically started February 12th 2003 with me stuffing the new Sevylor into my backpack enroute to Toronto’s Pearson Airport. However, the real beginning for partner Masaru Adachi and I was 10 days later at the side of the only road going south


to Brazil. Carrying the boat, we trekked unguided for eight days through savannah and rainforest into the wilderness interior of Venezuela's enormous Canaima National Park—roughly the size of Belgium. Three days of rest at the Pemon Indian village of Kuana with the family of headman Juan Felipe Ochoa Blanco and we started the river trip—down the black-water Kuana, Akanan and Carrao Rivers, and then up the Churun River into the heart of one of the deepest sheer canyons on earth. On the afternoon of the 19th day, I hiked to the base of the kilo- metre-high waterfall. I didn’t even have to finish climbing to where the miniature rainstorm usually fell. An unseen, unheard wind up above suddenly blew the cone of water 150 feet toward and over me.


—Tris Winfield ADVENTUREkayakmag.com 37


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