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With the release of the Ripper 2, we got in touch with Mathew from Pyranha kayaks to see how the start of the year has been for Pyranha and also to see what else is in the works for the rest of 2022.
Do you have any new boat designs that will be coming out this year?
Of course! We have a pretty legitimate claim to the title of the most consistent innovator in the industry, and even in these highly unusual times, one thing is for certain… we’ve been busy developing new boats!
Specifically, we’ve got the much anticipated second generation of the Ripper, and true to form, we’ve only made something new when we found a good reason to.
Some may have seen that we’re also producing an Extreme Slalom-specific version of the Ripper called the Rip-R Evo, and we’re excited to see this dominate the competition scene this year.
In addition to that, we’re working on a new, shorter version of the Fusion crossover kayak that will be called the Ion (see what we did there?!)
If so when will we be able to get hold of them?
Ripper 2 is making its way to dealers worldwide now, we’re working our way through orders of Rip-R Evo, which has proved quite popular with athletes (probably because the original Ripper was already a medal-winning design, and this one is even faster!), and Ion will be in production in the coming months.
Following up on the Scorch X release how has it been received in the UK and Europe?
Each of our markets has their own style of having fun on the water, and although we aren’t afraid to design specifically to those preferences from time to time, we’re always hoping to open the eyes of paddlers in our other markets to that angle; specific examples would be boats like the Loki, the adoration of which we can pinpoint to a small-but-passionate community in the North Eastern US, and longboats like the 12R which have a strong following in the US but are generally seen as a ‘try-don’t-buy’ experience in the UK/EU.
With the Scorch X, we introduced it to our UK/EU markets with the same hope, but a dose of skepticism in the knowledge that the 12R hadn’t taken off in those regions; we’ve been surprised by the response, however, and it seems like that 10ft mark might just be the sweet spot for creekers worldwide. If you haven’t tried one yet, that’s all we ask – you’d be missing out if you didn’t!
and finally, we are very impressed with the support for Ukraine campaign that you are doing, how well is it going?
We love the paddlesports community; they always show up when it counts, and we couldn’t be prouder to be a part of that. We were hoping to raise £75,000 for the DEC, and it’s looking like we’ll surpass that target by quite a margin – there are still t-shirts and ‘Flag of Ukraine’ Scorches and Virgos remaining through our dealer network (check out our blog post for a list of participating dealers) if you want to help support the cause.
That’s super impressive how much money you guys have raised for Ukraine!
Cheers for that Mathew
Thanks!