Last year we posted how two companies, Finn and Spirit, had dramatically changed paddling in Perth over the last two decades.

Several weeks ago I had a meeting at Spirit Paddle Sports with Alan, the General Manager, and Lannin, the Marketing Director.

Spirit produce a number of designs of plastic kayaks; the Spirit boats that caused a generational shift in Western Australia are its performance surf-skis. Where previously surf-skiing had been the realm of elite paddlers on expensive (and difficult to repair) fiberglass skis, their roto-molded plastic (so sturdier yet slightly heavier at 23kgs) have allowed a larger proportion of the population to get involved in the sport. Local races now have plastic ski sections.

Alan, Lannin and I discussed introducing their product to the European market. To begin with, they are going to ship a sample of their Cross-Trainer (CTR), Race Ski and PRS (Performance Race Series) Ski to Croatia so that Lifejacket Adventures can involve them in several of our tours and get some great photographs with European backgrounds (such as in Venice on our Grand Adriatic Kayak Tour). We will also take them to several kayak symposium and adventure fairs.