SHAPE SHIFTER

A little article posted in a Malta based design zine called ME Design Magazine. You can find the actual article here http://www.medesignmag.com/products/727/shape-shifter/



A kayak with the ability to adapt to any condition? Trak have eliminated the traditional compromises ensuring maximum performance in changing water and wind conditions, at any skill level.
With other kayak designs, one has to commit to a single kayak shape, that is, one that goes fast but doesn’t turn easily or one that turns easily but is difficult to paddle in a straight line. With this new design, three hydraulic jacks tension the 16-foot, 48-pound kayak's skin until it's absolutely solid. Headed across open water? Loosen the center jack so the hull lies flat for maximum speed and stability. Need maneuverability? Increase the tension so the boat bows up at the ends. You can even make the craft bend into a right - or left-facing crescent to combat crosswinds. Additionally lightweight and portable, it goes into its airline-friendly pack in 10 minutes or less, and is also extremely durable so you can tread any rocky shore, expose it to sun and salt, and keep on paddling and paddling.http://www.rethinkkayak.com/

Urban kayak manufacturer TRAK ups CEO

March 3, 2009
TRAK Kayaks Inc., the producer of the world’s first Urban Kayak, announced the promotion of current Chief Financial Officer Nolin Veillard to the role of chief executive officer, according to the company.

During Veillard’s tenure as CFO over the past several years, he was responsible for leading the capitalization of the Calgary, Alberta-based company through its product development and manufacturing development phases.

In addition to his new leadership position, Veillard will also become a member of TRAK Kayak’s board of directors.

TRAK Kayaks Inc. manufactures a kayak product that is lightweight and portable, fitting nicely into an airplane pack in 10 minutes or less. The company sells these products to encourage both kayak enthusiasts – as well as urban residents seeking outdoor adventures – to go experience their cities from the water that surrounds it.

Veillard told DailyVista that his new position will entail leading TRAK Kayaks into its sales and market growth phase, and to fund an aggressive key urban market strategy both in North America and internationally. He added that the company is currently at this stage.

“I will be working with Robert Schmidt, our vice president of sales and marketing, to establish strong partnerships with national outdoor retailers, social impact organizations and lifestyle property development marketers to drive our revenue growth and market awareness,” he said. “Because this product has ‘almost no awareness’ in our target market, and gets the response it does when people see and experience it - our focus will be targeted exposure to our urban active and lifestyle markets in the big cities.”

Veillard plans to implement some guerilla marketing initiatives in some of its key U.S. target cities during 2009. In the short-term, TRAK’s business development will primarily focus on property developers and marketers of lifestyle properties and condominiums and will rely heavily on a network of agent resellers to leverage the word-of-mouth that that the urban kayak product brings.

TRAK Kayak’s target audience is typically the urban active or urban lifestyle end-consumer, ranging from active baby boomers to urban professionals. Veillard said that the company has one major partnership that has been consummated as part of its “Paddling for Possibility” program (DailyVista article), which sees the company getting involved with social impact organizations that connect TRAK to its target customer, allowing TRAK to pass along financial and other impact material to that organization.

“It takes an expansive view in this economy to prosper,” Veillard said. “This is the best time for TRAK to go through its sales growth phase because it’s unexpected and people are more in need of what we offer: wellness, lifestyle and convenience. If you have a contraction mindset, then contracted results will show up. That being said, we require further capitalization to drive sales growth, which can be more challenging in this environment. We’re pursuing that objective in early 2009 to put the resources behind the marketing engine.”

Our source said that TRAK Kayaks has not secured a relationship with any agencies thus far, and that Schmidt is part of an organization of Blue Ocean Strategy practitioners worldwide - allowing him to work with some of his colleagues to source partners that understand the uncontested market space strategy that TRAK is currently leveraging.

“We’re wide open to hear of some outrageous and out-of-the-box approaches to driving awareness in our target markets,” Veillard said.

© 2008 DailyVista ● All Rights Reserved ● (877) 339-1513 ● info@dailyvista.com

Two Jack TRAKing

42 competitors, 70 volunteers, 21 packable performance kayaks, 3 days of challenges and a ton of fun. The goals for the Amazing Race in Banff where simple: Raise money for the Banff Mineral Springs Hospital, attract visitors to Banff, increase community involvement, and educated participants on Banff National park history and promote environmental awareness, a success on all fronts.


Beautiful Two Jack Lake outside of Banff was the perfect place for the TRAKing challenge. What was required during the TRAKing challenge you ask? Simple, assemble your teams kayak as quickly as possible, then 1 team member paddles out and around a marked canoe and back to shore, then the first team member hops out and the other partner jumps in the kayak and paddles back out to the canoe to receive their poker chip for the next event, then both team members disassemble the kayak and get moving to the next challenge!

All in all assembly went great. When the first teams showed up at about 8:15am it was fast and furious and it did not stop until the final team came through at around 9:45am. It is a pretty awesome sight to see 20 plus kayaks all at different stages of getting assembled, disassembled, paddled and packed.

Surprisingly for as many people who said they had never kayaked before the skill level seemed to be pretty high, there was some pretty great kayaking going on.

Having the opportunity to expose a bunch of people to kayaking for the first time is really a special thing that never gets old. Everyone involved with the TRAKing event had a great time helping out and we hope that our kayaks helped make the event a lot of fun. A special congratulation to the winning team: Elise & Boris Vajsabel from Edmonton.

TRAK Kayaks making waves in the city

We love when people say great things about TRAK. This post was pulled from www.paddlinginstructor.com and was written by David Johnston in Toronto, ON.


TRAK Kayaks has been a very interesting company to watch over the past couple of years. It is a very unique product that has turned a lot of heads since it came onto the market. What makes this collapsible boat unique is what they are calling the "Tri-active Performance System". Basically, it is three self-contained hydraulic jacks located within the cockpit which allows you to adjust the shape of the hull on the fly. For example, you can easily adjust the amount of rocker you want depending on the water conditions you are paddling in.When it first came on the market, many of the "established kayakers out there" smirked and didn't take the product to seriously. They felt that the hydraulic pumps were more of a gimmick and would likely break down right away.Well things have changed slightly. I haven't heard of any major problems with the boats and anybody who I know who owns one thinks the adjustable rocker feature is absolutely fantastic. One friend of mine loves the fact that he can drop the rocker down so it tracks super straight but when he wants to do some surfing or rock hopping, he cranks it up and the boat performs similar to a whitewater boat.

The key thing that I have enjoy about what this company is their unique perspective and approach for the design and marketing which I believe is one of the most unique and fresh programs in the paddlesports industry today. Every once in a while, I see interesting ads or marketing ideas but really it is just rehashing of the same thing. It's all boring, conservative, risk-free and stale.TRAK Kayak has decided to go after a very niche market. They recently trademarked the term "Urban Kayak" and going after, you guessed it, the Urban Kayakers. I for one, think it is a fantastic idea. I live in a small condo downtown close to the water and I am not alone. Here in downtown Toronto, 17,000 new condo and housing units were built between 2001 and 2006. With a population living in the core currently sitting at over 169,000 people, that's a lot of potential customers who would like to own a good performance boat but don't have any room to store it.

http://www.paddlinginstructor.com/blog/industry_stuff/trak_kayak_goes_after_the_urban_market_20080730.php

TRAK finds its Blue Ocean…

TRAK Kayaks Inc is excited to welcome Robert Schmidt as their VP Sales & Marketing. As Canada’s first certified Blue Ocean strategist, Mr. Schmidt has provided growth focused companies with valuable direction to create highly profitable market demand.

Some companies choose to compete in crowded markets, or as Schmidt states, “to swim in red oceans full of sharks and competitors.” Schmidt has witnessed many profitable strategic moves where companies went against the flow to create blue oceans free from competitors. Companies like Casella’s launch of yellowtail™ and Nintendo’s creation of the highly successful Wii™. “I see the same Blue Ocean opportunity with TRAK,” says Robert.

“We believe this is a perfect match,” says Gord Espeseth, TRAK’s founder and CEO. “Our flagship product stands out from the pack and we empower people to live a Life Unleashed. When combined with Robert’s ability to navigate to profitable Blue Oceans, we can clearly see the path to unprecedented revenue growth and market reach.”

According to Schmidt there is no doubt that the approach works. As an external consultant Robert led many companies through the process. Now, he’s looking to lead the process from within. “TRAK is in a great position to create a highly profitable Blue Ocean,” says Robert. “The product is simply like no other. I knew we were onto something amazing when I first saw the ultimate 16 foot kayak pack into a 4 foot golf bag. That’s real value to those living in a crowded city.”

So what’s the rave about TRAK? Imagine experiencing your city WHEN you want like you’ve never done before - from the water. “I strongly believe there is a blue ocean of new customers who’ve set aside dreams of hitting the open waters when they want to because they believe it’s simply not convenient. TRAK is going to shift that,” said Schmidt. “The beauty of it is that finding our Blue Ocean is going to help many active urban residents discover their own blue ocean of a Life Unleashed.”

TRAK is the coolest thing in your closet!

Well it’s June and it’s time for TRAK to volunteer or time and our demo fleet of Packable performance kayaks to be part of the Race in Amazing Banff (http://www.racebanff.com/) that is going this weekend June 12-15th.

We brought our butts and our kayaks out to Banff last year for the Race and had a blast!! All proceeds for this event will benefit the Banff Mineral Springs Hospital’s emergency medicine and specialty surgical programs.

We don’t mean to toot our own horns but from what we heard, the kayak assembly last year was among the contestants favorite, toot toot!

If you want more information more information on the Race in Amazing Banff, Please email info@racebanff.com

TRAK Centre: Opening, April 11, 2008 (Calgary, AB)

We're opening up a retail centre at the Calgary Farmers' Market on Friday, April 11, 2008! Come and see our new digs, assemble a TRAK and sign up to one of our indoor demo events. Even though we are getting a ridiculous amount of snow this morning in Calgary, paddling season is just around the corner! We can get you TRAKing in no time!

Calgary Farmers' Market, Second Floor
H6, 4421 Quesnay Wood Drive SW
Calgary, Alberta
email: store.calgary@rethinkkayak.com
phone: 723-0077

Hours:
Friday: 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Saturday: 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Sunday: 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM

A Kayaker's Waltz by Ken Whiting & Friends - a video of their Grand Canyon trip

This video is completely outrageous. This group of professional kayakers headed out on a 21 day trip of a lifetime in December down the Grand Canyon. They had a variety of boats with them, including a couple of TRAKS. Clearly they had themselves a good time. Also heard a rumor that the TRAKster pack can transport significant amounts of alcohol - Which might be directly related to the musical extravaganza this wild video is set to??

I don’t even know what class of water the Grand constitutes… but if you ask me, it looks like the “class cheating death kind.” I think I’ll leave this kind of kayaking to the pros! What became of these fine TRAK Kayaks during this trip into the Grand, you ask? (Or in other words, did it break?). Nope. Just needed a good clean.

For all Canadian’s whose parents didn’t make you watch CBC as a child you might not remember the original version of this song… For the rest of you, watch the original link for some classic Canadian Broadcasting Corporation programming. ENJOY!!

Ken & Friends:

Original Version – CBC:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJ7AvPIjaTQ&feature=related

Where are you visiting from?

Lights, camera, action... Hollywood here we come!

A rockin' TRAK commercial made in 48 hours by director Danny Roew (www.dannyroew.com)

Title: "Escape and Rethink" 1 x: 30

On Facebook.com? Join the "Friends of TRAK Kayaks" group

Share your TRAK experiences, share your photos, meet some new friends, ask someone who already owns a TRAK a question... you know how it works, just join.

Here's how to do it:
go to Facebook.com, search for "TRAK Kayaks" and join: Friends of TRAK Kayaks! (And then invite all your friends to join, too).

Elevate Film Festival

Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow.... what an unbelievable experience this was.

This year TRAK had the great honor to be a sponsor for the Elevate Film & Music Festival. The event was held Saturday, September 15 at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, CA. Yes, that's the home of the Academy Awards.

I can't explain better than the amazing team can themselves - "Elevate is the first 48-hour film festival to challenge the international film community to create works of social and global importance. Our mission is to unify though art and media by bringing awareness to organizations and individuals who are making a positive impact on our world. "

I encourage you to go to the website and watch and learn and get inspired: http://www.elevatefilmfestival.com/. Some of the people who are involved in this project are also involved with "The Secret".

I don't know if I can find the words to do this experience justice. All I can think to tell you is that next year - get yourself to Hollywood for this event if you want to be left touched, inspired and elevated.

Who participated in this spectacular event:

Alanis Morissette had her video for the first single off her new album, "Underneath" (It will be out in 2008)

India Arie had a video made for her beautiful song, "Hope" (listen to the song here: http://www.musicremedy.com/i/India_Arie/videos/Theres_Hope-6298.html)

This was one of my favorites:

"Legacy of Love" You can watch it here: http://www.frazadelic.com/2007_8.htm

There were commercials (including ours - http://youtube.com/watch?v=rT0I3lWY-q8) documentaries, narratives and so much more.

From what I'm told there will be a DVD available. You should line up to buy it.

Here are the behind the scenes and event photos from the professional photographer (WOW): http://leebrubaker.smugmug.com/gallery/3703899#212398873

What a show! There were entertainers throughout the theatre literally stopping the crowd with their costumes and antics. Here's a pic of a few of them in front of the TRAK display.

This was Hollywood, baby - so of course there was a VIP entrance for movie stars and the well connected...Ken & I were on hand for this event - and during the set-up day we had a few minutes and took advantage of our "Elevators Passes" and explore the theatre. This is the view from the infamous stage.

Here are some clips and press coverage from the event:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=mfQtxyJKO4Q

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPEj3nWbyXk

And here's the report from correspondent, Ken Whiting: http://helipress.com/news_article.cfm?newsId=262

Ken, Brendan & TRAK take on the Ottawa River

Just a leisurely paddle on the Ottawa river.... all in a day's work for a couple of world champions.

Race Amazing Banff

Okay, I'm busted - I've been falling down on my responsibility to keep the blog up to date. We participated in Race Amazing Banff (http://www.racebanff.com/) in September... and it was soooooooooo much fun!

Here's how it worked:

There were about 100 people competing in this 4 day, 3 night, 12 challenge event. The concept of the race was based on the popular TV show, and teams raced in and around Banff, AB in the heart of the Canadian Rockies.

One of the events was "TRAKing"... racers picked up a kayak and then had to get it the 8 blocks to the water. Teams could get their boat to the water however they chose... this was one of the funniest parts of the event - there were people pulling it, some carried it on their back while running, others hitched a ride from locals and some pulled up in taxi cabs with the trunks flying open! It was a sight to see - I promise you that.

Upon getting to the site, teams had to assemble their kayaks, get it in the water and paddle up the scenic Bow River to find a floating clue, and then pack up their kayak and return it to the pick up point.

Assembly:

We weren't sure what to expect in terms of how fast and how easy people would find the assembly. After all, these were not experienced kayakers, and not a single person had ever assembled a kayak in their life. We had mailed them out an assembly DVD the week prior - and it was obvious that they had watched it, in fact a couple of teams had downloaded it to their iPods and brought it with them. Most teams had their boats together in between 10-20 minutes. There were a couple longer than that, but did admit that they hadn't watched the video. These racers were such good sports. All most none of them had been in a kayak before and those who had were sit-on-tops. Upon getting a 2 minute kayak lesson, they were out in the water. And true to form, in about 5 minutes they had an awesome handle of the boat. It's a good thing they had to get on to the next challenge, or I don't think we would have got most of them out of the boats. The smiles were ear to ear!

We had such an awesome time with it - and we know the racers did too. Being part of someones first experience in a kayak is so much fun... especially when they were a little apprehensive to begin with - and then to see them being able to enjoy it so much is very rewarding. Definitely the best part of our jobs!

Men's Journal - "Adventure to Go"

Here's the skinny from Men's Journal:

“At 58 pounds (in the pack), it incurs a fee at check-in – but you can check in a damn kayak.”

Read the article at: www.RethinkKayak.com/news

Outdoor Retailer 2007

Outdoor Retailer is an industry tradeshow for all the manufacturers and dealers to connect and purchase product for the upcoming season. Twice a year (summer & winter) the entire outdoor industry descends upon Salt Lake City, UT for the largest tradeshow on earth. Everything you could ever think of buying for the outdoor sporting world is represented here – and not on a small scale. You’ll have to take my word for it that with over 1,000 exhibitors in a 430,000 square foot facility, it is a truly unique experience. This event is the Disneyland of tradeshows.

The first two days of the tradeshow are an open air demo (for the paddlesport group only), which allows dealers to get out and paddle every kayak available, before they put it in their stores for you. It’s smoking hot out on this beach 100 degree plus! (A big change for us folks from Canada, LOL). We tried, but it seems like every event we go to we bring more boats than the last one, and it never seems to be enough… we still had line ups to go for a paddle. But once they paddled it, we were quickly forgiven. :)

The following four days are inside the Salt Place for a more traditional show. We moved locations this year and to a larger 20 x 30, 2 storey booth (thanks Druid). Because there’s a lot of prototypes and such at this event, they prohibit cameras, so while I’d love to show you what this amazing show looks like from the inside, I can’t. Here are a couple of quick snaps from our booth.

Our team worked incredibly hard to get the booth ready to go, but once the doors opened – they worked even harder! This might have been the only rest Dray (our US Sales Manager) had for the entire show.

We ran a contest to see who could assembly the TRAK boat fastest. Rock climber, Philip Swiney, claims the winning time. The mountain guide from Las Vegas, Nevada assembled the 16-foot kayak in an amazing 4:59! Which is not only the fastest time for the show, but the fastest time EVER, even by the TRAK team.

We also had our good friend Ken Whiting out to do a couple demos in the paddle tank, which was always a blast. You'll have to take my word for this that it's him in the boat... who was in charge of the camera???

The booth was full of enthusiastic dealers from all over the US and around the world. (We bring on new dealers everyday, so if you don't have a local dealer, you likely will soon).

I know this is just teasing, but we have a VERY exciting project that we are launching on September 1. I can't tell you what it is quite yet, but it's very fun, stay tuned....

The reviews are out. The verdict is in. TRAK is the real deal.

Canoe & Kayak

“…there have been innovations in the category, notably the recent introduction of inflatable chambers to help make the boats more rigid. But in truth, any skin-on-frmae boat that collapse into a duffel bag performs like what it is: a compromise. Until now.

TRAK Kayaks T-1600 folding sea kayak is the most innovative paddling product in nearly a decade. It is the first folding boat that can keep up with a hardshell touring in speed and performance.”

Adventure Kayak

“Do you realize the implications? Here is a kayak that is immune to the classic tradeoff between speed and maneuverability! It can out run play kayaks and outplay touring kayaks. Global market domination is virtually assured… the TRAK T-1600 proves to be an awesome
transformer. It holds its own against any other folding kayak for its construction quality and ease of assembly alone.”

Read the full reviews and stories from Explore, Breathe and others here: www.rethinkkayak.com/news

Where are the hatches?

Alright. Here's how this goes. We don't have hatches, BUT that does not mean we don't have sufficient storage capacity for a kayak of these specifications, because we do. Our system just works better.

Keder Storage System

• Our Keder Storage System is an aluminum extrusion sliding on a track that provides quick and easy access to your gear, without the hassle of leaky, failing hatches.


• When opened it provides complete access to the ample storage cavity inside the stern.


• When closed it provides a fail-safe water tight seal.


• The Keder system has a stop on it to ensure it locks into the coaming.


• With the flat rib profile of the TRAK, gear bags can easily be loaded in the bow from the cockpit.

Storage Capacity

• Bow: 165 L / 44 gallons
• Stern: 172 L / 45 gallons

Also - watch for our new gear/float bags coming soon.

National Geographic Adventure Review

"TRAK Kayaks gives us the world's best... Beginners will dig this easy to use system; experts will have a field day."

To read the full story: www.rethinkkayak.com/news

10 year old assembles TRAK in 12 minutes!

My background in water sports is Marathon Canoeing (4th place finisher in Nationals in 1986)....but I have always loved kayaks....they have to be one of the most efficient boats designed by man and considering the conditions in which they first evolved even more amazing. Recently I took the TRAK Kayak out for a test paddle. I had my two daughters with me ages 15 and 10. I got them to time me as I assembled the boat starting the timer as I unzipped the storage bag. This was the second time I had assembled one of TRAK's unique kayaks and it took 8 minutes and 15 seconds to get it from the bag into the water.

My 10 year old wanted to give it a try after watching me do it on three separate occasions so the 4th time out of the bag she had the tube frame together in about 4 minutes ready to be put into the skin! I helped her with the skin and the hydraulics and we had it in the water in under 12 minutes.....A 10 year old can wheel the carrying bag down a paved boat launch and with a tiny bit of help have it in the water in 12 Minutes? Come on! Considering the wear and tear a boat takes in the sun and wind on top of a car (not to mention the extra racking and fuel costs to haul it) as well as the at home storage considerations, plus the strength required to get it on and off the rack ....and...Not withstanding this boats other obvious and unique features, in my opinion,......NOT owning a TRAK Kayak will be a costly error in judgment for any one serious about this boat for sport or recreation!

And by the way............this boat is fast! a darn sight faster than even the lightest marathon canoe racing shell paddled by me over the years!

Craig Shearer
Founder and CEO
Solar Freedom International

Read more testimonials from TRAK Owners on our website: http://www.rethinkkayak.com/testimonials/