Paddling kit – what’s new in paddling kit this year

With the spring weather starting to 

bring paddlers back to the rivers after a mild winter the question we are all asking is what kit will we be buying this year. The world shortage of just about everything has meant a long wait for new kit and the good news is that we are slowly seeing a return of new clothing and kit arriving into the country. As a paddling companies start to see trends continue with record numbers of people getting into sport this year has seen a rise in paddling experiences. so wjhats new out there and what products do we like 

 

The latest white water boats to hit the scene is the Scortch which has become a popular boat from Pyranha which replaced the Burn and B2 models in 2020 and has been a popular and forgiving boat with the ability to have responsive speed through water and feels a very stable boat with little in the way of twitchiness when breaking in and out of white water. Pyranha have also updated the  way in which individual boats can be customised with a range of exciting colour ways for grab handles and accessories to add a bit of bling to your boat- this could well be a great way of attracting a younger audience into the sport as well- thinking of my daughter who often matches her hair colour to the colour of her dry suit!

The firefly has been a popular option and an enjoyable boat that transitions well from flat water to white water and can be paddled solo or tandem, we found it a good boat if a little tippy to start with that handled grade two rivers well, other boats that I would like to try include the Afon from Venture which I hope to get a demo on soon. but for now I will be sticking to a Royelex boat or two for a few more seasons but unfortunately these are getting rarer and we are still waiting on the volume of new boats in lightweight plastic to catch up in the open boating world.

Behind the scenes there are however some exciting projects going on which will see some interesting new kit available this year from Silverbirch canoes.