COMPANIES ARE HEEDING
THE WARNING OF RICHARD LOUV, WHOSE 2005 BOOK LAST CHILD IN THE WOODS COINED THE TERM NATURE DEFICIT DISORDER.
FROM TOP: New baby on the way? Call Otto Vallinga Yacht Design and begin building the Smallwaters 8. This boat will stay in your family for generations. Plans are only $60 and the full kit is $549. | Portage? No problem. At only 10 pounds, the Kevlar Hornbeck 10 is the lightest boat we have ever tested. The $1,095 includes PFD and paddle. And, Hornbeck will buy the boat back when it’s outgrown. | The boys bragged about the control they had in Nova Craft Canoe’s 12-foot Teddy tandem. Available in six different materials, all of which can be dragged over beaver dams. Fiberglass is $1,095. | Old Town’s Heron Junior is seven-and-a-half feet of early morning freedom for only $349.99. Simple and tough, it includes a built-in towrope in case freedom turns to frustration. | Jackson’s Fun 1 was the first to truly allow grade ones and twos to access whitewater class ones and twos. $699 for the boat, smiles are free. | The new Lendal Grommet is the latest high-end kids paddle to cross our desks. Kids love the rad skull and spider web pattern. We love that it’s light, tough and feather adjustable. $199.
It’s the recent bounty of kid-friendly boats that has allowed
paddling schools and local clubs to structure their programs for ever-younger participants and, in some lucky towns, make kaya- king just another option, like little league or minor hockey. It’s a scene you wouldn’t have come across a few years ago, confirms Jackson Kayak’s marketing director James McBeath. “It used to be the age-old excuse that, ‘I gave up kayaking because I had kids.’ Now, with the smaller boats, you can really bring them with you,” he says.
new priorities
Thanks in part to an aging Boomer population, kids have be- come a priority across the whole outdoor industry. Companies are heeding the warning of Richard Louv, whose 2005 book Last Child in the Woods coined the term Nature Deficit Disorder, and fighting for their future pay checks in the age of iPhone. Confluence Watersports, the parent company of Dagger and
48 PADDLING MAGAZINE
WaveSport, is now at the forefront of the industry’s youth drive, recognizing that today’s boomer-driven boat sales won’t last. At the 2013 Outdoor Retailer Summer Market, getting a new gen- eration outside was identified as the most pressing issue facing the industry today. Confluence was also a platinum sponsor of the Outsider’s Ball, a fundraiser for youth outdoor programs. It’s no surprise that 2014 features an explosion of kids-specific equipment across the paddlesports market, including all manners of kayaks, paddleboards and accessories. Companies are tackling the kids’ market in a couple of ways, says Mark Kelly, paddlesports buyer for outdoor retailer MEC.
swallowing margins
For one, many are swallowing their profit to offer premium kids products. High-end kids equipment includes the nine-foot NRS Jester paddleboard, the composite Raven touring kayak by Current Designs and Nova Craft’s 29-pound Teddy, a 12-foot
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 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56