Just over 1 year ago we launched our first polo boat the Blaze. This was the culmination of a 6 month design and prototype testing process that saw an idea of what was required through to a finished product. As they say though the design process is always on-going and we keep taking on feedback from our clients, as well as our own experience paddling and competing in the boats day in day out.

 Right from the start we realised that the new generation of kayaks needed to be more individualised and personalise for the player’s weight and playing style.  This has led to just about all our boats orders having something unique in their manufacture to give the client exactly what they want….or think they want in some cases J The modern polo boat needs to allow the player, no matter size, the ability to compete in that contact situation. Our focus has definitely produced a great product to meet this demand.  (In discussions recently with a couple Australian national players after their series with New Zealand;  they noted how some of the smaller NZ players in Blazes were still able to contest effectively the contact/jostling despite giving away 10-20kg in weight advantage. Think that this is a tribute to not only the players but to a design that allows these elite players the manoeuvrability to get into these dominate positions.)

 The process lead to the creation of the Flare which really is a hugely cut down Blaze, so that smaller players were able to gain the same advantages the existing Blaze paddlers were getting with their new boats. So in November 2012 we started producing the Flare after being pushed hard by one of small Reps: Nichole Clarke. The feedback for the smaller boat has been great with players 50-65kg now able to consistently get their noses under players and get into the better jostling positions. This is something that these smaller players have really never been able to do easily before, so the excitable feedback has been just fantastic to receive. 

The image above showing the start of the measuring process for the Flare. There are 13 points measured on the tail, 11 on the front and 5 around the cockpit area. The good thing now is that we have created a bit of a database of boat personalisation vs. player weight and style. 

We are now working on the pending release of the bigger version of the Blaze. The Blast is designed for players 85kg+ and we aim to give the bigger players the same experience currently enjoyed by Blaze and Flare paddles. Release is set for July/ August 2013

Further information on the Blast will be posted in the coming weeks.