Over the last 14 months, I've been working on a new design called Air. 16 prototypes later, I have completed the Air 45, and I'm now working with paddlers such as Steve Fisher on the Air 55. This is an overview of the Air 45 which will be available in October 2002.
As anyone who paddles a Riot kayak will tell you, my designs are based on three key criteria. 1. Speed 2. looseness and 3. Carving. I believe that if you master these three aspects, the rest will fall into place. However, my kayaks have also had the reputation of being somewhat difficult to handle in some situations. This is in fact a misconception based on the Glide experience... which WAS tempremental. Look back to the 007, or Disco however and it becomes obvious that I have also been leading the way in user friendly designs that perform. The Disco for example is generally regarded as the most user friendly kayak ever designed, and it's certainly one of the most fun. The Dominatrix was in its turn also a great breakthrough, finally offering to women the first kayak that could be flatwater cartwheeled, and for men a raging play machine. But it is the Booster that has finally changed the markets perception of two things: that my designs are in fact extremely easy to paddle and that a kayak can be both ULTRA performing and EXTREMELY user friendly.

The quandary with the Air design was to continue this trend. After all, I am in the business to not just design but also sell kayaks, and the Booster has been Riot best selling kayak ever. But my favorite kayak in the Riot line is the breakthrough Tekno. Less of a seller, but by far my favorite kayak to paddle. I have been able in the Tekno to perform moves that not only I have never been able to do in the past, but that I have never seen others do. 2 foot airs became 6 foot airs. On Lachine, my personal playground, the very biggest airs I see done by any other pro in any other boat is about 2 foot. In the Tekno, I am regularilly 4 foot in the air, and even 5 to 6 feet from time to time. But the Tekno is not for everyone. So, how to make a boat that performs like Tekno on a wave, and is easy to paddle like the Booster, and has the Dominatrix's excellent hole riding abilities. This is the recipe that has taken me more than a year and 16 prototypes to perfect, and perfect it I have.
The foundation of the hull is based on the Booster. Twin hulls, with the sufing hull located almost 2 inches below the carving hull. This allows me to have an extremely flat and fast planing surface, with a 90 degree edge and carving surface, without compromising forgiveness. As such, the Air is extremely fast... almost as fast as the Dominatrix on a wave (the Air is 6ft, while the Dominatrix was 7'4"). It's as loose as the Tekno, and has more bounce than any other kayak in the world.

Swallow tails as you know are all the rage now. However, unless you actually channel water into the tips of the tail, the fancy little cut does absolutely nothing for the kayak. It does no harm either, but don't believe anyone who tells you that the swallow gives the kayak a long carving length and a short running length (quotes right out of the Tekno catalog). While this IS the case, the water has to be channeled into the tips. This is why the Air has the same grooves in the hull as the Tekno in the stern (but you'll also notice that they are NOT present in the bow since there is no swallow cut to the bow unlike the Tekno). A new addition to the Air however is the Stingers, which afford the kayak stern better release, and better bounce without compromising speed. Anyone who has paddled any of the little bouncy spud kayaks will tell you that the biggest problem is speed. Can't manoeuvre about the wave, can't accelerate into the sweet spot... in fact all you can do is sit on the face and bounce yourself silly. While Air does this, what it also does is zoom around the face like the Dominatrix, or Ego or whatever other boat you might be used to. The best of both worlds. The result... I'm getting even bigger air in the Air that I have been able to in the Tekno. While I can't surf all the same waves, and there are some places where the Tekno by far out preforms the Air, on other waves I can go bigger, and more often and on command with out the need to set up.
The Air comes with the same quad fin set-up as the Tekno, for added speed with limited if any effect on the boats ability to spin like a top, and a surfboard type nose in both plan and profile for lift and cave in a turn.

Another important feature of the Air has been cartwheeling. I have gone out of my way to make this kayak solve many of the issues that short boats have in holes; namely a tendency to be unbalanced and to fall over too easily. Steve Fisher remarked that the Air 45 is more stable on end and better balanced than even the Dominatrix, which is quite a statement to make. In addition, it must be one of the easiest, if not the easiest kayak to flatwater cartwheel.

How easy to flatwater cartwheel? Well, (those that were at the Salt Lake City OR show will remember our pool demo) we have had 100lbs junior women who could barely flatwater catwheel any other kayak getting all the ends they liked, including stalls etc. with extreme ease. And then 5 minutes later (the same boat, with the same adjustable outfitting in the same pool demo) our New York rep, a towering monster of 240lbs, 6"4" with size 15.5 feet and 34" inseam climbed into the same boat (literally slipped right in with ease) and went out and threw the little kayak all over the place. I didn't plan on this.... I just wanted it to be comfortable, but I was sure happy about it.
So there is the run-up on the Air 45. In a week, I'll have some info up on the Air 55. If you have any questions about the Air 45, email Vero at Riot, or go to their web site.