These are the entries for the Paddlesport Product of the Year Awards 2019 in the Special Jury Prize category. These awards are organized every year at the occasion of PADDLEexpo. Note that, a product could win the prize although not listed here, if the judges discover once at the show, that a product worth winning was not entered; entering ahead of the show simply guarantees a product to be taken into account by the judges.
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LEVEL SIX – STEALTH WAIST BAND
Our new Stealth waistband system is a double internal cinching system that builds upon the success for our DCS waist system. We managed to create a system that looks better with very clean lines that can colour match all our apparel, while at the same time improving the cinch mechanism. When tightened, the new system pulls from the front and the back of the drysuit or top with equal pressure creating the ultimate seal and lock around your waist. The best combination of function, comfort and style on the market.
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YOLOBOARD – OUSTANDING DESIGN
A SUP must be high quality and durable, it must have excellent material and gliding properties, and it must also be comfortable to carry – but who said that all this is not compatible with a phenomenal design that will knock your socks off? When YOLO Board entered the European market in the 2019 season, these true works of art beautified European waters. Our designs are artful and designed with great attention to detail, so that the mere sight of them makes you dream and discover new and tiny details every time you paddle. This breathtaking beauty cannot be described in words. You have to see, feel and love YOLO Board. You only live once – make it count. Why should we win? Because every time a customer comes to our store, there is this magical moment of silence and the sparkling in their eyes.
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SKUK – ARTWORK
SKUK specialises in custom artwork. The artwork is sprayed within the gelcoat. The more complex designs are done with complicated stencils that allow you to build up a multi colour logo or picture. Various types of metal flake can also be sprayed into the mould. Colours, densities of flake along with the size of flake can all be offered. This form of artwork is ideal as it will withstand deep scratches and is actually part of the structure. SKUK are one of the only companies that undertake this form of artwork at an affordable price.
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PEAK UK – ECO
Over the last few years we have been doing our best to reduce our environmental footprint and to minimise our impact. We have drastically reduced our import packaging, changed our office lighting to LED, and we now get our milk delivered in glass bottles. We even use paper tape on our shipping boxes. In the last couple of years we have arranged numerous local river clean ups, which have resulted in several tonnes of rubbish being removed from our local waterways. We set up the Paddle Peak local river user group to promote paddle sports in the area, but also to promote awareness and responsible use of the rivers.
In the biggest push yet, this year sees us remove all single use plastic packaging from our production. Products now come with a minimalist recycled hangtag and compostable hemp cord, and with no polythene bags.
In a bid to cut fabric waste, our One Piece Suits now come packaged in a Surplus Bag. This acts as a great kit bag for your suit, and doubles up as a useful changing mat. The bag is made completely from left over materials. Nothing was purchased to make the Surplus Bag. Our future aims are to make harder wearing, longer lasting products using more recycled materials, with the goal of reducing waste. As mentioned before, weíve already begun updating our premises to energy efficient lighting and investigating the installation of solar power generation. Weíre also planning a recycling / up-cycling project for used paddle sports garments. To top it all, we are now so proud to announce that for 2020 all of our new whitewater and touring jackets and pants are made from fabrics containing recycled yarn. The following products have all been created from used plastics: From our touring range, the Tourlite Short Sleeved, Long Sleeved and Hoody, the Adventure Single and Double jackets are all made from recycled textiles. In the whitewater line up, the Semi Long, Freeride and Deluxe Jackets use the same eco friendly materials. Our legwear, the Bagz H2O Shorts, Semi Pants and Storm Pants all utilise used plastics in their fabrics. Plus most of our custom printed jackets and topdecks are made from polyester containing yarn made from plastic waste.
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MARSPORT – RACING CHILLI C1
A truly unique craft in the racing world: Every manufacturer in sprint racing builds boats to win Olympic medals, but nobody caters for the intermediate or beginner paddler. The Marsport Chilli was designed and built by Craig to do the Devizes to Westminster canoe race, so it needed more forgiveness that a traditional C1. A flattened mid section, with greater volume in the rear leads to a much more forgiving craft allowing less experienced paddlers or masters who arenít training as much, to get on the water and be able to put in 100% commitment to every stroke. A true racing bow also means it doesnít have the traditional drag of masters craft.
The boat on show is an ultralight epoxy carbon innegra craft, built with a foam core to make it more durable than traditional honeycomb used in racing craft so can tolerate far more abuse than most marathon craft can endure. The bespoke nature of our boats means the kneeboard and footboards are placed in the optimum position for the paddler, reducing weight even further than the traditional ìplankî style of fittings.
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BARZ OPTICS – CABO MODEL
The Cabo frame floats in both fresh and salt water due to the air cells that have been built within each temple and the nose piece. The Cabo frame fitted with any of our lens options has a buoyancy of 0.9031 g/ml (Fresh water is 1.0000 g/ml and salt is around 1.0300 g/ml.
The padded nose piece also adds extra protection in the case of a frontal impact. The Cabo is ideal for kayaking, canoeing, fishing, SUP riding etc.
The Cabo as entered offers the following unique features:
Polarised – reduces glare and UV to the wearers eyes – while enabling the wearer to see submerged object under the waters surface.
Photochromic – polarised (lens lightens to Cat1 (about 15% darkness) in low light and darkens to Cat3 (about 75% darkness) in full sunshine (normal sunglass darkness).Then glasses can then be worn in all conditions.The lens generally darkens in 30 seconds in full sun and lightens in around a minute under cover. Bi Focal Reader – enables the wearer (if they require reading glasses) to easily view their fish finder, GPS, mobile phone, map or menu at the end of a paddle and also enables them to tie fishing tackle or view and adjust small components that would normally be hard to see on their craft. The Cabo is also available with three other lens options – polarised, polarised photochromic (non reader) and polarised bi focal. The Cabo is supplied with a neoprene case, micro fibre cleaning cloth and a urethane leash which will attach to a life jacket etc.
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STARBOARD – PLASTIC OFFSET PROGRAM
Because Starboard initiated the first Plastic Offset Program (POP) in watersports industry. In November 2017 we started the POP program, where we tax ourselves on the different plastic materials that are used in our production. Thus we are able to fund local clean-ups. Since then we are collecting many kilos of trash at the beaches of Pattaya, Thailand almost every day. Our goal was to collect 43.000 kg of trash until the 31st of August and was reached in July. Also in Germany together with SUPscout, Starboard organized the biggest cleanup on 8 of June: 48 SUP stations and schools took part. To see how much we have collected so far and to follow up on our progress you can check out our constantly updating POP chart.
We are very proud that may is looking to be a record breaking month already. Although this is a great achievement and brings us closer to our goal, it also sadly shows how much trash is washing up on our beaches every single day. Starboard Co. has taken the lead in offsetting the impacts of the plastic used in its business by creating the first Plastic Offset Program (POP) in coordination with the Plastic Disclosure Project and its methodology for measuring a companyís plastic footprint.
The Tiki pump, with its amazing easy pump cycles, ergonomically shaped handles and removable large foot made by recycled fishing nets, in combo with hose that is fixed on the body part . A wonderful super light carry bag with 450 D rip stop cloth made out of recycled bottles. Ending it with a super strong fin box made from upcycled fishing nets. And each touring bard produced is helping retrieving 1.4 kg of beach trash while absorbing 1 Ton of CO2 because Starboard plants 1 mangrove per board.
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JP – WELDED SEAM TECHNOLOGY
JP-Australia developed the Welded Seam Technology to increase the durability and air tightness of our inflatable boards. The connection between the rail and the drop stitch material is hot air welded thus creating a very strong mechanical joint that turns these two parts into one. The plasticizers in PVC migrate over time and weaken the strength of the chemical bond of the glue. By fusing two different layers together into one part, the welding process makes the board safer and more durable.
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RTM – RECYCLING AND REPROCESSING OF POLYETHYLENE RECYCLING
Rotomod is launching a policy of recycling surplus production, waste and obsolete equipment.
PROCESS
Each element is sorted, packaged, washed before being shredded into chips. Then the chips are regenerated and
micronized to produce a powder that can be rotomoulded.
Too many old kayaks are sleeping in the world, letís give them a second life by recycling them.
APPLICATIONS
The PE powder produced is used to manufacture new parts in the field of water sports, marine and motorway lighting,
Construction, agri-food, wine and many others.
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DEWERSTONE – SAVE OUR RIVERS
When is a t shirt so much more than a t shirt? When you put planet before profit. This is a t shirt that inspires and gives back. Save Our Rivers are making a difference and he sales from this t shirt directly go to helping that. Made from 100% organic cotton, GOTS certified , Vegan approved. We can make good choices in the products that we make, you can do it in the products you buy. #wecantdoitalone
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Pyranha InaZone 232 – Made with up to 15% Recycled PolyethyleneGood things come back around, like the reintroduction of the Sub 7 and InaZone 232, and the recycled plastic used within them and other Stout spec models. Club spec models like the B:Two will also make use of the same recycled plastic, which comes from our own production waste. We’re no newcomers to sustainability, though; we’ve been recycling our waste polyethylene since we began rotomoulding in the early 80s and re-purposing waste from other industries for decades. Even our famous Fish Sponge is produced from the manufacturing offcuts of the foam hands seen in the crowds at sports events.
