Introducing the Doubleshot - and no, it’s not alcoholic! August 2
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Over the last month our team has been very lucky. First came our amazing sponsor, Marty’s Mountain Cycle who has been so incredibly supportive. Next came our great first race as team Marty’s Mountain Cycle. Now I am very pleased to introduce Ocean River Sports of Victoria as our kayak sponsor, and our brand new tandem boat, the Doubleshot, by Point 65 Kayaks from Sweden. This is the first Point 65 tandem in North America and Kitt and I are the very willing guinea pigs!
This boat is sweet!! It’s 20 feet long, 26 inches wide, weighs in at 84 lbs, orange in color (it matters to us girls!) and can really move. It’s a new design by Nigel Foster with a shallow arched/hard chine hull configuration that allows coordinated paddling teams to make really accurate edged turns. Brian (the owner of Ocean River and original creator of Current Designs Kayaks) has dubbed it the “Passat Killer” and I can’t wait to race it at Cumberland and see! When we first took it out Kitt and I noticed almost immediately how very maneuverable it was. It actually skates into the corners which makes it super fun to paddle. One of my favorite things about the Doubleshot is that while it’s fast for racing, it also has tons of room for expeditions. This kind of duality in a boat is exactly what we wanted, race it in a MOMAR one day, take off for a week in the Broken Group the next. There are 2 large hatches both forward and aft, a middle sized mid compartment and 2 day hatches.
My one complaint is that my paddling skills aren’t good enough to take full advantage of how fast this boat really is. Just as I started to realize this Brian offered to teach Kitt and I how to use wing paddles and help us tweak and refine our paddling technique so we could really give it a fair shot at racing this boat. As with all things outdoorsy, Kitt’s skills dwarf mine, but I am game to learn. When Brian said this I started to squirm with excitement and wanted to go out and start right away! Ocean River is the perfect kayak sponsor for us, they carry everything a paddler could possibly want and have a large selection of clothing and camping/outdoor gear. Thank you very much Brian!
If you are interested in having a look at this great tandem (or taking it for a paddle! If you do - let me know what you think!) it’s kept in the showroom at Ocean River Sports. It’s adventure racing debut will be at the MOMAR in Cumberland on September 27th.