Just wanted to introduce myself to the bunch. I am the new..

[Gavin]

Southeastern US Esquif Canoe sales representative. I also work with H2O Paddles, Mitchell Paddles, WRSI Helmets, Level 6, Salus PFDs, Fluid Kayaks and a few others in the recreational/touring world. I know many of you already from paddling over the years. Let me know if you all need anything. Cheers,

Gavin Rains
gavinrains@yahoo.com

[horizongfx]

Welcome Gavin, Glad to hear we got someone new to bitch at, I mean bounce ideas off of

[Gavin]

I use to work for Bell, so I am use to people bitching. I am always open to any concerns for sure. Cheers,
G

[Shep]

I use to work for Bell, so I am use to people bitching.

Not gonna touch that one with a 10 foot pole!

Gavin, Do you travel to events for demos and such? If so, I have a couple to suggest, and I'm sure others do as well.

Thanks,
Shep

[Bill M]

Gavin, We're neighbors!
Bill

[Gavin]

Shep,

I am always happy to venture to do some demos and/or events for sure. I will likely wait until Spring shipments to get a demo fleet down to save on the shipping from Quebec, but let me know what you got and I will see what I can do about being there if possible.

G

[Gavin]

Right on Bill. I live on the other side of 227 from Town Creek.

G

[philcanoe]

welcome welcome welcome

That's one for Jessica and Tallulah too...

[Smurfwarrior]

You still rep'n Big Dog?

[Gavin]

Smurfwarrior,

I have never repped Big Dog. I represent Valley Sea Kayaks and they own Big Dog, so I have affiliation that way. They Valley distributor in the eastern US has no intention to promote Big Dog Kayaks to dealers as far as I know. The are going to bring in some boats, but I think that they are intended for direct to consumer sales and certain partners for promotion, but not many. Bringing another whitewater kayak brand to the US market for dealers is too involved and costly for the most part. Especially in the Eastern US. We have confluence (Dagger & Wavesport), Jackson, Pyranha, Liquid Logic, Bliss-Stick and Fluid Kayaks here and the US market is usually not open to many brands outside of that and certainly not in the numbers that it requires to have market share here.

On top of all that, my representing Fluid Kayaks and Esquif Canoe would be a conflict of interest I'd say.

Hey Phil,

Let's hit some of this water.

Cheers,
G

[eddyhops]

Welcome to Cboats Gavin! Great to know you're broadening your market horizons.

Looks like our Alabama boating season is finally here!

[milkman]

Gavin, welcome to the forum and the conversation.

Any advice for how to buy H2O canoe paddles here in the states? I checked with my local dealer, Next Adventure, in Portland, Oregon, and they said it would cost $90 in shipping and handling to get one H2O canoe paddle from Canada to me. Perhaps you know another dealer somewhere in the US that stocks the canoe paddles. Most of the web searching I've done only turns up the two-bladed kind.

[Gavin]

What are you looking for? Size Paddle etc? I have some paddles coming down here from Canada soon and could get yours put in with mine to cut down on shipping. I then would likely charge you shipping from Alabama. That will be around $20 depending on the length. Also, WRWW is H2O Paddle's newest dealer and I literally just placed an order for them yesterday. Either way, email me the information. Cheers,

Gavin
gavinrains@yahoo.com

[milkman]

Gavin,

Thanks for the "take charge" response. I'll send you a private message regarding the paddle.

--Mark

[Gavin]

Hey Mark. You got mail. Cheers,

Gavin