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