Packed show this year. Paddle sports is def back and SUP is absolutely everywhere. Also seeing lots of images of paddlers at non-paddle sports company booths. Some brief observations from day 1 OR.

- New paddles and branding from AT. From a brief walk through, they look good. I talk to them today.

- Fluid has several new boats - Detox (in silver), slalom boat, etc. Initially, it looks like they've brought the most to the show and have worked out North American distribution. Great conversation with Celliers yesterday.

- Jackson has redesigned the Hero/SuperHero - slightly shorter, a bit rounder in volume. They've got a new custom design process that bakes the design (flames, bubbles, etc.) into the plastic of the boat. Jackson has also trickled down some whitewater characteristics (e.g., rocker, chines) into one of their new rec boats - the Rogue.

- Riot is here. Passed the booth, at least 3 times yesterday, and it was empty. Boats are there - Astro, Thunder, etc., but zero staff there. Fisher comes in today - Hope to find someone to check in with today.

- Level 6 has many new items. More from them to come....

- Pyranha has a new boat - the Varun - based on Molan design. Their booth has been busy.

- Shred Ready has a new entry level helmet - $40 price point - and a new carbon layup for the TDub.

- Rapid Media has taken over the PaddleZone - where people can relax, take meetings, and hear a few presentations. It's a really impressive area, moreso than the other 'zones' (e.g., endurance zone, climbing zone) at the show. Flat screen for presentations and films, area for non-profits like AW and ACA, and boards listing all the new gear being offered by paddlesports companies.

Logic, IR, Kokatat, WS and Dagger, Astral, Imagine are also here.

Day 2 - Busy day - lots of business being done - lots of presentations today also. Several companies are not here (e.g., Werner) but those that are seem to be doing repeated meetings. Can't imagine Woody, EJ, B.Kirk, etc will have voices left by the end of the week.

- As BK and Playak pics confirm, a new playboat from WS. No details yet - More soon. Lotsa buzz there.

- New lids from WRSI - a composite and a permanent full-face. Proto's are here - final versions will go to retailers in Jan.

- New AT logo and paddle - super tough, not as heavy as my current 10yr old AT, but - it comes with a lifetime guarantee for normal use.

- Don't see much at Logic that Woody and Shane haven't already blogged about (e.g., Versa board, etc). Their booth has been packed the entire show.

- Pyranha Varun looks like a playful river-runner. Def see the Molan influence but there seems to be more to the Varun than just a Molan with slicy ends.More forgiving chines, decent bow rocker. Nice looking boat.

- Outside of whatever is happening at Riot, their booth was empty again today. For as busy as everyone else seems to be - they're just not doing any business there.

Check the Flickr site I've created for the items above. There's also a few pics of items mentioned in my post from yesterday (e.g., Jackson boats, Fluid Detox, Shred Ready helmets, etc). Find the main set here -http://www.flickr.com/photos/inbetweenswims/

Comments and suggestions welcome.

~jeffmc

Good read, thanks for the updates! Weird that Riot is there but no people manning their booth. Otherwise it sounds quite exciting. I must definitely go and visit one year.

Just a tip, in FlickR you can create what they call 'sets' which is essentially a photo album. Then you can stick all the OR pics in that set.

I talked to Jeff Inbetweenswims about that yesterday. It was a coincidence for him I think. I pass the Riot booth many times each day and always see people there. At least the owners Mark and his female chinese partner (sorry, I'm not good at remembering chinese names) seem to be there consistently.

Steve fisher was at the booth for a long time on Wednesday and from what I heard yesterday, his role in Riot will grow - seems he'll carry a lot more responsibility for the whitewater part of Riot.

Jeff Rivest is now working for Point 65 (see the earlier press release on Playak) and seems to be very happy with his new job - I can imagine he went through some very stressy years...

Anyway, good luck to all!