SRS | News Letters

SRS NEWS OCTOBER 2010

At the Regina CanMas, Norma Dawson of Viking CKC, resident of Calgary, but originally from the Montreal area, saw a woman athlete from another club falling in. Norma, being compassionate Norma offered her own Delphine K1. After adjusting the seat and footrest in less than one minute, the newly minted Delphine paddler exclaimed: “you mean there is no need for screws, pins and wing nuts”?

I have coached at clubs, provincial, national and Olympic levels. One of the reason I founded SRS was to develop paddles, boats and accessories that simplified the life of both athletes and coaches. Two patents later, we have developed several new products; the ideas were mostly good, but the execution was some times wanting. Although the wooden platforms for all kayaks and canoe singles and tandems work well, we will reduce future maintenance by replacing the same on all new boats with composite platforms made of universal components.

If you have an SRS universal seat that slips back under pressure, call us and, we will send you the fix that stops slipping with a new adjustment screw including metal and rubber washer. Cost including packing and shipping in Canada is $12 to individuals needing one kit and for 10 kits for the club or group of individuals is $40. The shipping and packing are 80% of the costs.

One purpose of this Newsletter is to express our thanks to those who have supported SRS during the recent past by purchasing our products. They include individuals, clubs and members of clubs such as Cheema, Masqwa, Banook, MicMac, Malo Aquatic Club,Pisiquid, Pointe Claire, Otterburn, Lac Beauport, Shawinigan, Viking, Lachine, Great Wale, Kitigan Zibi, Rideau, Carleton Place, North Bay, Rideau, Ottawa River, Gananaque, West Rouge, Missisauga, Balmy Beach, Burloak, Selkirk, Kamloops, Ridge, Pemberton, etc. Interest in our products is spreading and, we are supported by purchases from many, many individuals not only from Canada and USA, but sometimes as far as Australia. Our results for the fiscal year ending on 30 September, 2010 show sales growth in kayaks, canoes and paddles of 44% over 2009.

From now on, therefore, we will email the SRS News to individuals who have supported us, as well as to club and other contacts shown on the CKC index.

At Regina I met Jeff Morgan, treasurer of Kamloops CKC, quoting from our August News ..”that we are the only manufacturer in Canada”…..”That we pay taxes in Canada, and these taxes support Sports Canada, CKC and your club”. I was about to defend this statement when he told me that he agreed with it. By the end of the Regatta his club had purchased two Kayaks. At the beginning of October Kamloops and CKCBC via Mary Jane Abbott ordered four Vela C1’s.

Most of our sales are by friendly referrals. We want you to be our friends and we thank you. We ask all of you, that if you have any problems with our products to get in touch with us, so that we know about them and can correct them for you and others. This will make our product better, and will help with future innovation.

In addition to these thanks, I wish to thank especially Christine Gauthier for her support and positive comments regarding the boat (Laser4All) in which she won two trials, World Championships in 2009 and the Canadian Championships at Regina. We participated with her in Paddle All sessions; she is terrific.

Our thanks go to Peter Giles who listened to my input and made valuable suggestions, and John Edwards for international development of the Paddle ability program, applaud Lorraine Lafreniere’s first year with CKC), who also listened and wish all the best to Graham Barton on his new position with “On the Podium” program.

Do you know about Boat Loan Programs available to Canadian Clubs?

1-CKC has two interest free boat purchase programs; one is general and one is based on a donation from John Wood, intended for the purchase of SRS boats to encourage manufacturing in Canada. These have been on the CCA web site, but not recently. In April 2009, in our meeting with SRC, it was promised that both of these would be shown on the newly developed website. Checking in early October 2010 we could not find them. They should be highlighted, or at least shown in the “Development”, where sales and exchanges of private boats are shown. JW program has about $40,000 available, with a maximum per club applicant of $10,000

2-Quebec (CKQ) website shows under “Documents” several aid programs. A very simple form is available to borrow up to $7,000 per applicant.

Participation at World Championships in Poland

We offered to provide Christine Gauthier with a carbon Laser4All, and requested CKC to look after crating and shipping both ways; cost would be about $2,000, but significant to SRS as we are a small company. We wanted our boat back in order to minimize copying. Our appeal, however, was not approved mainly because “this was not in CKC budget”.

What do we plan to do in the near future?

We intend to make several high performance boats using new lay-ups for the Florida camp. These will be comparable to Nelo and hopefully with some positive time trials we plan to encourage clubs and individuals to purchase SRS products as well as imports.
Ask CKC to place the General and the John Wood boat loan program on the CKC Website.
Also, ask CKC to include on the budget transport cost of the Canadian made Paddle All boats to WC and international Regattas.
We will also, improve the Stabilizer which can make a boat with a performance hull as easy to paddle as a novice craft and, we will deal with any other issues based on your feedback.

SRS continuity

Our key employees are Gayle Schwartz (Admin), Gary Rust (Production and Purchasing), Steve King (Sales and Marketing) and me. I am qualified to race masters in 80+ and statistically speaking and even being in good health, I have only single digit years in the tank. SRS needs to look for new blood. All of the above, loyal, knowledgeable and efficient individuals like their current duties and are not interested in taking over managing of SRS.

Therefore, I invite those from around the Montreal and Laurentians areas or are willing to relocate, who are interested, to call or write to me. Initially, the managing position will be part time, the tasks will include staff and financial management, it will be challenging and the pay will be modest, but with potential equity vesting. I will concentrate on Sales and R&D and will support the new manager and stay on as long as I am useful and my health permits.

Lou Lukanovich, 26 October 2010

This issue of "SRS News" highlights the features of PadleAll kayaks. As you know, from 2010 PaddleAll races will be officially included in the CKC National Championships and are thus eligible for Burgee points.

1- Laser4ALL K-1
Based on the Laser, but with a flat bottom hull (instead of a "vee") It also features a large cockpit (using a new hull/deck seam) to facilitate getting in and out or for using adaptive seating. Prototype (identical hull shape below water line) raced at the World Championships, Banook, 2009. Gold medal Christine Gauthier New mold is now in full production, and the kayak will be shown at Regina.

2-Aquila K2 (initially introduced as Delphine4ALL K-2)
This tandem is based on the Delphine but in a K-2 configuration. Stable and fast Prototype (identical hull shape below water line) raced by Viking in Masters events at CanMas in the last 7 years and frequently won medals. New mold is now in full production and Viking will have one at Regina.

3-Arrow4ALL
Based on the Arrow but with only 2 cockpits (instead of the previous 3) Very Stable If the stability of the boat matches the ability of the crew, they can paddle hard without balance issues. In Master Events at 2009 CanMas, the Arrow4ALL beat strong crews with some balance issues in conventional racing K-2's.

We plan to have our event tent in Regina from Thursday, 26 August to the end of CanMas on 29 August. This will provide a rare opportunity for some clubs to see our newer products for sale and in action. Please come and visit us, as we can show you our single kayaks: Delphine X, Laser, Laser4All, Mohawk 85, and Vector. In addition, you could also see our new Aquila K2 and the popular Sagitta K2, paddled by Viking Masters Paddles such as Xwing, canoe bantam and senior, and dragon boat carbon, economy and demo will also be shown.

tel: 450-226-7821
fax: 450-226-5170
www.simonriversports.com
Head Office and Store at:
43 Echo Road,
Morin-Heights,
QC, Canada, J0R 1H0

Normal Store Hours:
Monday - Saturday: 10-5 Sunday 1:00 to 5:00 PM.
Call and Visit late October to the end of March for XC skis and snow shoes

2009 Simon River Sports Bulletin

SRS is proud to announce that the newly designed Laser4All K1 was paddled at the World Championships by Christine Gauthier in the first ever Paddle Ability category where she won a gold medal for Canada.

Design and development of plugs and molds started in April when SRS received the ICF Specifications for Paddle All kayaks. ICF specifications were based mainly on Nelo boats; however, designs of SRS Laser4All K1 and the Arrow4All K2 are completely our own and are unique. We also modified Christine’s personal seat and integrated it with our platform system.

These and additional boats and SRS products will be available at CKC Championships starting in the afternoon Friday September 4 and up to and including CanMas held on September 6.

Some of these products are described in the attached. In particular, the following boats will be available and your opportunity is to eliminate shipping costs to Sherbrooke.

Qty	Boat Model	Status	Construction	Price Range

2-3	Laser4All, K-1	New	Carb/Fg	1,800 to 1,900
2-3	Laser, K-1	New	Fg	1,780
2	Delphine, K-1	Demo, Used	Fg	1,250-1,500
1	Delphine X, K-1	New	Fg	1,780
1	Vector, K-1	New	Carb/Fg	2,450
1-2	Barracuda, K-1	Demo	Carb/Fg	2,000 to 2,200
1	Sirius, K-1	Used	Carb Natural	1,800
1	Mohawk 67, K-1	Demo	Carb/Fg	2,200
2	Vela, C-1	New	1 Fg & 1 Carb	1,750 to 2,300
2	Arrow4All, K-2	Demo, New	1 Fg & 1 C/F	2,400 to 2,850
2	Sagitta, K-2	1 New, 1 Used	1 Fg & 1 C/F	2,300 to 2,550

For more details see our website.

Note: Mohawk hull won medals at last Olympics and 2009 World Championships

We will also have several types of paddles and an improved version of the Stabilizer that can be exchanged free of charge with the original unit delivered prior to July.

On April 4, 2009, I presented to the Sprint Racing Council (SRC) the SRS (Simon River Sports) plans to provide K1 and K2 boats meeting ICF specs for the PaddleAll International and National competitions.

The following week we received from John Edwards the new ICF Specifications, and determined that indeed we have boats that meet these specs. We have, however, gone a step further, and SRS is pleased to announce that it will have boats that not only meet these specifications, but that they will be modified in order to improve performance. These kayaks will be available at the beginning of June 2009, for deliveries in June, July and beyond.

SRS kayaks are based on a modified Laser K1 and Arrow K2 that are also excellent for regular club programs, master competitions, adventure racing, fitness, and in all situations where a combination of stability with good speed is needed.

In addition, please note that the interest free John Wood Boat Fund, which applies to purchases of SRS products, can be applied for with CKC at any time during the year, as opposed to the previous method when the approval of this fund was possible only once a year in February. As of end of February 2009, $22,000 were available in this fund.

We thank CKC, Anne Merklinger, and John Edwards for this initiative. Also we wish to thank all CKC clubs and SRC for their support and we look forward to providing a "Made in Canada" solution for the PaddleAll and development kayaks.

September, 2006
Team Nike Powerblast Wins Raid World Adventure Race Championships with Simon River Sports and Ruahine [more]

March, 2006
Simon River Sports introduces "The Xwing" it's latest high performance wing paddle [more]

October, 2005 Beast of the East Adventure Race
TEAM SRS Wins 1st place earning its entry to the 2006 Adventure Race World Championships next August in Sweden [more]

2005 Edmonton World Master Games
SRS Kayak and Canoe Rentals For Marathon And Sprint Racing [more]

January, 2005
Simon River Sports and Ruahine Kayaks Form Strategic Alliance [more]

November 21, 2003
Simon River Sports and Van Dusen Racing Boats Announce Strategic Alliance [more]

August 18, 2003
Simon River Sports introduces Carbon Dragonboat Racing Paddle [more]

August 7, 2002
Simon River Sports introduces E-Z Set 5 Piece Shaft System [more]

January 15, 2002
Simon River Sports Adds The "Rebel" to Its Line of Advanced Plastic
Composite Touring Paddles [more]