History Of Paddling

History of the Dry Suit - An Interview with Steve O'Meara, Founder and CEO of ...

Anybody into paddling knows that Kokatat is one of the market leaders in the development of solid, well designed paddling gear. For 40 years now they have turned out paddling jackets, PFD’s, dry suits and paddling apparel which is used by both beginners at the local lake and pro’s in the far off reaches of the wilderness.

A short while ago I had the pleasure to sit down with Steve O'Meara, Founder and CEO of Kokatat. I wanted to learn about the history of dry suits as well as talk about some of the many technical hurdles they had to overcome during the initial product development.

What I discovered along the way is somebody who was clearly a forward thinker in the very early days of paddlesports but is also somebody who is not interested in riding the coattails of past success and always push forward and continue innovating.

We started making dry suits in 1986. Dry suits have been used both in diving (though much different then the ones used in paddling) and sailing but not really noted in watersports in general. It was a logical progression from a dry top which we had been making pretty much from day one.

As the sport became more popular people realized that winter/very early spring (especially in whitewater) often had the best water so they started going earlier in the season and of course this ran into all kinds of issues. Just having a dry top worked fine if you were staying in your boat but you ran into problems if you came out due to really cold water. The need for a full suit became more important.

What was out there in sailing was kind of one piece suits. It was more like a coverall with a zipper and a hood. There were survival suits but they were insulated and very awkward to move around in. They kept you warm but but not very practical for paddlesports.

What was being used up until dry suits came along were neoprene wet suits but they also had issues. When you were above the water with the blowing wind you got a lot of evaperative cooling. In the water you move around so you pump a lot of cold water in and warm water out so you are circulating it. You don’t stay warm as long in a wet suit and with dry suits you can layer and adjust to the air/water temperature.

When we first started the seams weren't glued and the consumer had to seal the seams to make them fully waterproof. Then we started taping which was a big innovation but also very tough to do in a full suit configuration compared to just tops and bottom. Then we started using Gore-Tex which had it’s own issues being three layers rather then urethane (which our original suits were made from). Urethane was nice to work with as the tape sticks to the material very nicely. When you go with Gore-Tex you have different issues with the glue and the tape. The combination of heat and pressure to make the tape stick can be tricky to get set-up correctly.

Travis Grant, Candice Appleby Win Battle of the Paddle, Hawaii ...

In one of the most competitive finishes ever, Australian Travis Grant edged out Danny Ching in a hotly contested final lap to with the 2011 Gerry Lopez Rainbow Sandals Battle of the Paddle, Hawaii and $5,000 in prize money. “I just know how good Danny is and I said to myself I’m just gonna hang with the guy as long as I can,” said Grant. “I wasn’t going to try and lead. I was going to try to either get lucky, really have a push, or do something different on the last lap. I got lucky on a little wave and once you get lucky you just hammer. He would have done the same thing. The same thing happened last year around the same time in the race. It was a different course, but once you get in front, adrenalin kicks in. It’s hard to come from behind when you’ve just done an hour of torture. But I’m so happy.”

On the women’s side, Candice Appleby beat Jenny Kalmbach, Rachel Bruntsch and Morgan Hoesterey to capture her second Battle of the Paddle, Hawaii and her third title in two years. “Going into the race my game plan is always paddle as hard as I can and don’t leave anything on the beach,” said Appleby who took home $2,500 for the win. “It’s only an hour and a half of your life so give it all a hundred percent. This week in my personal life has been so tough. But the Battle is my race of the year, I love it. If my life was a race, that was it right there. I can’t even comprehend how I feel just yet.”

Today’s elite course earned the unofficial title of being the most brutal in the four-year history of the Battle of the Paddle. It traversed through flat water, took paddlers in and out of the surf around a maze of buoys, with beach runs thrown in between laps. It provided more than an hour of opportunity for luck or misfortune to play their hand, however Grant and Ching somehow stayed neck-and-neck, exchanging the lead and trading waves to the finish. Their leading battle was spurred on by a pair of hungry 16-year-olds over the entire four-mile distance: Maui pair Connor Baxter and Slater Trout were embroiled in a battle of their own just two minutes off the pace. All four broke away from the start and never relinquished the distance between themselves and the remainder of the field of 93 elite starters.

Earlier in the day, the Open category race for all comers of all ages set the scene at Waikiki, drawing a record 140 entries that ranged in age from eight to 73. Among them were Waikiki’s royal family of paddling: the Napoleons, representing three generations of watermen. The youngest, 13-year-old Riggs, was a show-stopper, entering the Open race with his 70-year-old grandfather Nappy, and the Elite race with his dad Aaron, and uncle Sepa. The winner was Kauai’s Kawika Carvalho, in a time of 45 minutes and 10 seconds. The first female across the line was 16-year-old Halie Harrison from Hawaii Kai (52:35).

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