When working media attend trade shows like the Outdoor Retailer Summer Market there are literally hundreds of brands and thousands of individual products to look at, feel and touch. Having many shows like Surf Expo and ICAST, to selection of what to look at can be daunting. Because the Outdoor Retailer Summer Market this year is all online makes the selection of what to look at much much easier. I just visit the exhibitor's Outdoor Retailer Summer Market Online page and purse what they are promoting. I also go to their website and do the same.
Alps Mountaineering is one of this year's Outdoor Retailer Summer Market Online exhibitors. The company Alps Mountaineering has has five brands, Alps Mountaineering, Alps OutdoorZ, Cedar Ridge, Browning Camping, and Browning Blinds. Alps Mountaineering brand is a brand that covers almost the entire gambit of outdoor recreation equipment and gear when it comes to camping, hiking and climbing. After I cruised through the Alps Mountaineering website I noticed a different style of tent that caught my eye. It was a tent that did not require multiple tent poles.
It is called the Trail Tipi. Why I liked it was the fact that you could use your trekking pole as the center pole instead of carrying extra tent poles. The tent weighs less than four pounds and packs in a very small space. A perfect choice for one or two hikers on an overnight trip.
So if you are in the market for a new one or two person backpacking tent you just might want to look at the Trail Tipi. At $129.99 it not a bad deal. If you are a Amazon shopper, you can find it for sale there. Click HERE for Amazon. There are a few online review that say this is not the right tent for rainy days. The tent does not have a water proof fly. But you could treat the nylon fabric with a waterproofing spray prior to use to help the withstand rain.
Until next time, be safe in the sun and have a great day in the great outdoors.
The annual Outdoor Retailer (OR) tradeshow is held twice every year in Denver, Colorado. OR has a winter and summer market tradeshow. This is where the entire outdoor recreation community comes together to have fun and to see all the new products that will be coming to your local specialty outdoor outfitter of your local sporting goods store. This year because of COVID-19 Pandemic the 2020 Summer Market Tradeshow was moved online like other big shows like ICAST. Because the show is entirely online, it looks and feels different than a show where you walk from booth the booth talking to marketing and sales reps. I have never attended either the winter of summer show so I am excited to be able to attend the summer market online tradeshow and share my product reviews and my thoughts on other show topics. The OR Summer Market Online will be open until the end of August 2020. Please ome back and visit Outdoor Recreation in Orlando often.
Until next time, be safe in the sun and have a great day in the great outdoors.
If you have read any of my past articles, you will know I am a big supporter of environment organizations, outdoor brands and local community organizations the foster and promote protecting the environment and helping the under served community when it comes to getting into the great outdoors. Well Soul Trak Outdoors (STO) is one of those community based 501 (C)(3) organizations. Here is their mission statement "Our mission is to build diverse cohorts of outdoor leaders, forge inclusive outdoor spaces, facilitate stronger outdoor communities for underrepresented groups and use outdoor adventure as a catalyst for creating new stewards of public lands."
STO was founded in 2018 by Tyrhee Moore. He is an accomplished mountaineer. He was a member of the first African American Team to climb Denali (Mt. McKinley) in 2015. A video was made of the climb. Click HERE to see the short movie trailer. His second assent of Denali happened in 2017. Tyrhee Moore has climbed Grand Teton, Mount Kilimanjaro, and Aconcagua. Here is a link to a Nat Geo article on the 1st African American Denali Assent. It is a great read. Click HERE.
STO offers youth, college and adult programs. Each program is designed to build skills, knowledge, abilities, confidence and leadership in mastering many of the different outdoor activities like hiking, camping, cycling, kayaking, and rock climbing.
At a time in America where under-represented communities are under extreme pressure from outside forces, Soul Trak Outdoors is a very bright spotlight focusing on helping your people and adults reach their potential. Mastering the great outdoors is a great way to build that confidence. So if you are a supporter of this great outdoor program click HERE to make a donation. If you are in the DC area and are looking for an outdoor adventure, please visit the Soul Trak Outdoor website to sign up for one of their outdoor adventures.
Until next time, be safe in the sun and have a great day in the great outdoors.
I met Wayne Bradby in 2008 at the Jacksonville Kayak Fishing Tournament in Jacksonville, Florida. When I met Wayne the JAX tournament was one of the biggest kayak fishing events in the world. They would draw 300-400 kayak anglers from all over the world. They had anglers from the UK who came almost every year I attended.
Wayne is a kayak fisherman. Wayne was one of the founding members of the Tidewater Kayak Angler Association (TKAA) where he was the treasurer up until 2019. Over the years Wayne has supported many charities by attending kayak fishing tournaments where the proceeds went to one or more charities. He attended the Jacksonville Fishing Classic twice where he placed 4th in the red fish division during one of those tournaments; TKAA Charity Tournament five times; Catchin’ for Kids twice; Forgotten Coast Kayak Anglers (FCKA) Charity
Tournament twice, Kayak Fishing Classic at Jamaica Bay, NY twice. He also won the Hook, Line and Paddle Charity Kayak Fishing Tournament in Wilmington, NC in 2011. From 2008 to 2019 Wayne was the TKAA Tournament Director where the proceeds went toward Heroes on the Water and Project Healing Waters charities.
In addition to supporting charities, Wayne and the anglers at TKAA do an annual Virginia Beach Trash-n-Fish Cleanup. Click Here for a link a short news blast on the cleanup. According to Julio Avila, WTKR News, the waterway was very clean as reported to him by the kayak anglers who participated in the cleanup.
As a master kayak angler, Wayne Bradby has been on the Pro Staff of many fishing kayak brands like YakAttack, T-Reign, PrecisionPak, Hobie Polarized and Malibu
Kayaks. Today he is on the Pro Staff of Bonafide Kayaks and YakAttack.
He fishes from the Bonafide SS127 kayak. The SS127 is a sit-on-top kayak with great stability which allows the angler to stand up and fish. It is 12 feet 7 inches long. The longer the kayak the better it glides through the water. Bonafide does not offer a peddle or trolling motor as an option. But you can get the top of the line battery powered electric motor from TORQEEDO. Torqeedo is a German brand that makes electric outboard motors. They came out with their ultralight weight motor in 2016. Wayne has the Torqeedo 1103 AC with a 3 Hp trolling motor mounted to his Bonafide SS127 fishing kayak. This battery powered motor has a range of up to 30 miles. The Torqeedo Remote Throttle shows the miles you have covered and the amount of battery you have left. The miles covered and battery life are updated as you move through the water.
The actual mileage you get depends on the weight of the kayak angler and all the gear on board, the speed of travel and the wind. The faster you go the more battery power it uses. I suspect having never owned a battery powered trolling motor kayak, there is some water trials necessary to learn just how far you can go before the battery runs out.
Wayne Bradby is also an accomplished writer. He has written for BLADE magazine where he was a regular contributor. This is Australia's Paddle Culture Magazine.
Hot off the press Wayne was interviewed by Julio Avila, WTKR News, as part of a news segment on July 21,2020 about new people trying out kayaking as a way to social distance during the COVID-19 pandemic. The news segment focused on kayaking safety.
You can find Wayne on Facebook and LinkedIn. And if you are lucky enough to be launching you kayak from the Owl Creek Boat Ramp in Virginia Beach, you just might run into him.
Until next time, be safe in the sun and have a great day in the great outdoors.
Short and sweet, two of the 2020 ICAST Online product review I posted have won in their New Product Showcase Category. The Plano Edge Flex won the Tackle Management category and the Old Town Sportsman Autopilot Kayak won the Boats and Watercraft category and Best in Show.
Until next time, be safe in the sun and have a great day in the great outdoors.
Hobie is a regular exhibitor at the annual ICAST sport fishing trade show for as long as I can remember. In the past Hobie would have separate booths for all their different product lines. A few years ago they stopped doing that and now have one very big booth filled with all their different product categories, surfing, SUP, Pedalboarding, recreational and fishing kayaking, sunglasses, and gear. Having ICAST Online this year because of COVID-19 has changed what Hobie is exhibiting. On their ICAST Online page they are showcasing the sunglasses they have entered into the New Product Show case and four of their fishing kayaks.
I have been wearing Hobie sunglasses for may years up until I needed to have RX sunglasses. Hobie offers RX sunglasses but a typical pair will cost in the $400.00 range. That price point is a little too steep for me.
I give Hobie non prescription sunglasses a high rating because their typical price point of $79.99 coupled with the high quality frames and lenses. You cannot get same frames and lenses from Costa Del Mar, Maui Jim and Smith Optics for this price point. You just cannot. Hobie frame styles and lens color choices are just as attractive as their competitors. Hobie entered six different pairs of sunglasses in the new product showcase competition and did not win the sunglasses category. The Costa Del Mar FERG won the eyeware category. In my opinion there is nothing about the FERG that warrants the win except that the brand is Costa Del Mar. For some unknown reason to me anglers are will to fork out big bucks for a pair Costa sunglasses.
The FERG cost $279.00. That is $200.00 more than a comparable pair of Hobie sunglasses. So if you are in the market for a new pair of recreational or fishing sunglasses give Hobie a chance. You will not be disappointed.
As Costa Del Mar dominates the eyewear category year after year, Hobie does that with their fishing kayaks. Hobie many not win the kayak fishing and best of show categories every year but they have many wins under their belt. This year they did not enter a new kayak into the Boat and Watercraft category.
Hobie has large selection of recreational and fishing kayaks at many different price points.
Depending on your Hobie kayak and how you use your kayak you can select the right pedal drive system that matches your kayaking style. The Mirage Drive is the heart of the Hobie kayak. It is what it makes the Hobie unique. Hobie was the first kayak brand to develop and deploy a mechanical drive system in 1997. Today almost all major kayak brands offer mechanical drive systems that use either pedal drive system or battery trolling motors to propel the kayak. The new MirageDrive 180 is a work of art. The new drive has a new set of pedals and the fins kick up when a fin hits a submerged object.
Before the kick-up fin, kayak anglers had to be really careful around submerged objects and kayaking in shallow water. This is a game changer when fishing real skinny water.
So if you are in the market for a new recreational or fishing kayak, check out you local Hobie kayak dealer. You will not be disappointed. Until next time, be safe in the sun and have a great day in the great outdoors.
Another great year for Old Town. Where do I start? Did you know like many other outdoor recreation, camping and fishing brands that they are all owned by holding company that owns a family of similar brands? Old Town Canoe is one of those brands. They are part of Johnson Outdoors. Johnson Outdoors is international having many brand offices scattered all across the globe. The Old Town brand is located in, as you may have guessed, Old Town, Maine. At the 2020 ICAST Online trade show Old Town has three entries into the New Products contest best in show.
They are exhibiting the Sportsman Salty PDL 120, the Sportsman 106 Powered by Minn Kota and the Sportsman Autopilot 136. These are three great fishing kayaks. The seats are so comfortable that you can fish all day long. The Sportsman Sportsman Salty PDL 120 has a peddle propulsion system; the Sportsman 106 is powered by a battery powered Minn Kota trolling motor. The Sportsman Autopilot 136 is powered by a Minn Kota trolling motor with the added Spot-Lock Technology that keeps the kayak steady in windy days and with strong currents. These are not light weight kayaks.
1) Sportsman Salty PDL 120: Length 12 '0" / Hull Weight 87 pounds / Peddle weight 19 pounds.
2) Sportsman 106 Minn Kota: Length 10'-6" / Hull weight 104 pounds / Motor weight 17 pounds.
3) Sportsman Autopilot 136: Length 13'-6" / Hull Weight 128 pounds / Motor weight 24 pounds.
These are not you grand dad's kayaks. The price range is $1,899.99 - $3,999.99. But do not lose faith. You can still get a sit-on-top' paddle yourself fishing kayak for under $1,000.00. The Topwater 106 is $899.99 and the Top Water 120 is $999.99. If any of these kayaks do not tickle you fancy, Old Town has many more to chose from. Just visit their website to check them out. When I visited their website today there was a delivery alert saying that most of their kayaks would not be available for sale until August 2020 because of demand and the Autopilot until September.
That about does it for my Old Town fishing kayak review. Until next time, be safe in the sun and have a great day in the great outdoors.
