It's not until I sat down to write up this intro page and started to reflect over the past thirty years of sketching kayak hulls, designing layouts and crafting new kayaks from scratch, that the depth of Ruahine's heritage hit me.
Original Canvas Kayaks in the very early days
Like most great Kiwi products, Ruahine Kayaks started in a back shed way back in the 60's. In those days the masses
exited the city limits in Austin's, Vauxhaulls… to picnic at beaches, rivers and waterholes.
We always drew a crowd when we turned up, took our canvas kayaks
off the trailer, then headed off yonder to explore. We were labelled as adventurous and nut cases. With each weekend
away the passion grew and so did the following, to the stage where we started building canvas kayaks on a regular
basis and the entity that was to become Ruahine Kayaks was born!
Little did I know, I was going to paddle for another 10,000km's plus a further 35 years!Our recreational kayaking
evolved into racing, where I had some personal successes. With this our designs became more radical through the
70's as we stretched the limits with canvas kayaks, refined construction techniques, to lighten and improve kayak
speed.
The 80's were a great era in New Zealand kayaking, as Ferguson
and MacDonald stamped New Zealand on the international scene, causing a resurgence in all forms of kayaking in
Kiwiland. At this time we were right in the middle of building Olymp 5's & 6's in fibreglass (a new space aged
product to hit the market). With glass the durability of kayak's improved as did our adventures and we pushed the
limits of exploring new grounds, and in 1984, built & modified a recreational double into a ruddered &
bulkheaded sea kayak to help us get across Cook Strait for my first time.
We then moved into making early model Down River Racers with a group of local multisporters.
Olymp 5's & Radical Canvas Down River
Racer
While paddling Day 2 of "Mountains to Sea" in 93, some new design concepts surfaced in my grey matter
as I paddled the 84km leg on the Wanganui. By challenging the traditional hull designs I could offer a concept
that would provide more stability and speed in tricky river conditions. It became plainly obvious on the drawing
board that we were onto a winner and within a few months our "Destiny Multisport Kayak" rolled out of
the shed with it's great waterlines and a deck specifically designed to cut the whitewater.
Joyce and I formed a partnership and we built a number of Destiny's , several of which were retailed, mainly in
Wellington. The Destiny with some slight modifications was soon to become the Intrigue as sixty of them were sold in a short time mainly
in the southern part of the North Island. Quite a number of these heading down south to feature well in the "Coast
to Coast".
As multisport grew in New Zealand, our paddlers gained more experience requiring a kayak which would enhance their new skills. Rather than shifting camps they preferred to stay with Ruahine Kayaks and provided us with some great feedback. We consolidated the feedback with a number of our own ideas to produce a kayak for the intermediate paddler. In the winter of 1996 the first Swallow graced the rivers and immediately became a paddling favourite amongst those stepping up from the Intrigue. With it's stability first and speed second a few K1 paddler have chosen the Swallow for rough sea paddles or tricky river conditions, just to ensure they finish the race or weekend adventure paddle.
In early 1998 , we partnered with Richard Karn from
"Team New Zealand" to design a kayak for the experienced paddler. Leveraging off Richards's wealth of
design experience and computer technology we redefined the underwater principles for multisport kayaks.
The Opus was born!
Paddlers were at first cautious about this 'long' stable kayak, but soon found it was very fast too!
Now here we are in April 2002, with nearly 300 very happy Opus paddlers amongst you.
At last years Coast to Coast, Ruahine was represented by 300 kayaks, and the number just keeps growing each year.
Half way through 2000, we were inspired by Steve Knowles of www.sportzhub.com to make an Adventure Racing double suitalble
for the Southern Traverse, etc. We checked up on what the requirements would be and built our 7M long Duet - and
have been very pleased with it's performances.
Early in 2001 paddlers were asking us if we would design a new "top of the line" elite kayak to complete
the range from the Ruahine stable. We called the project our Formula One design - very soon we were calling it
F1 and the name stuck!
Six months later, after all the drawings, calculations, graphs and other computer feedback, followed by the building of the 'plug' and then the mould, we trialled the first one and it did all we asked of it. It was fast, stable enough and turned well. There are now 30 of them out in the races.
This page just scratches the surface of the Ruahine heritage and highlights when investing in a Ruahine Kayak you
inherit a pedigree kayak that represents a wealth of paddling experience and passion, combined with the leading
edge technology.
Endorsement of this is backed by the resale value of your Ruahine Kayak, which over the years have inspired confidence
and continued to help you push the envelope of your personal limits.
Each kayak in our range is designed to complement a paddlers ever improving skills. We ensure quality in our design
& crafting of kayaks, by focusing all our effort into a limited number of models, which provide you a natural
progression in models as you evolve in the sport.
We're here contributing and growing with the sport because it is our passion! The characters and mindset that is
multisport. The outdoors and adventures we all enjoy together.
Just give us a bell on the number below to discuss your personnel requirements and we'll mate you up with the right
kayak….
Mike..
ADVENTURE RACING AND MULTISPORT
DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION
Kevin and Christine
Osborne , PO Box 11146, Hastings, New Zealand.
Phone 06 875 0043, Fax 06 875 0983, Cellphone 027 601 5260
Email kevin@ruahinekayaks.co.nz
web-site
www.ruahinekayaks.co.nz
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