The paddlesports industry got encouraging news last week when an update of its largest consumer survey showed significant gains in participation among children and women.


The 2013 Special Report on Paddlesports, which is based on surveys of 15,770 individuals and 26,593 households conducted in January and February of 2013, reported participation in kayaking among 13-to-17-year-olds increased to 5.5 percent from 3.4 percent in 2011 and 3.9 percent in 2010. Among 6-to-12-year-olds, the rate increased to 4.3 percent from 3.0 percent in 2011 and 2.4 percent in 2010.

 

While marketers are reluctant to draw too many conclusions from one annual survey, they said the report suggests that money the industry has invested in team athletes, product innovation and youth outreach programs like Outdoor Nation may finally be moving the needle in the right direction after years of flat or declining participation rates. Participation even inched up in whitewater and sea kayaking, indicating that companies may be creating more of the core enthusiasts that fuel their innovation and brand marketing engines.


“To see that trend already moving in the right direction for paddlesports is hugely encouraging for our company as a whole, “ said Cheri McKenzie, vice president and chief marketing officer for Confluence Watersports, which makes Wilderness Systems, Perception, Dagger and Wave Sport kayaks and Mad River canoes. “Participation is the beginning of passion, and passion drives purchase!”

 

 

Marketers attributed the growth to more camps, parks and other livery operators offering kayaks in their fleets, growing popularity of extreme sports and growing participation by young families, which is supported by a surge in participation among 25-to-44-year-olds to 5.2 percent from 4.2 percent in 2011 and 4.1 percent in 2010.

 

 

The report shows a sudden inversion of the male/female participation rates in the coveted 18-24 age group, where women comprised 61 percent of kayakers and 58 percent of canoeists.
At Kittery Trading Post (KTP) in Maine, Jon Morrill said he has seen more young women who competed as athletes in high school or college look to kayaking as a way to continue body conditioning in an outdoor setting where they can also spend time socializing with friends. KTP is one of the largest paddlesports dealers in New England, where the participation rate was 8.2 percent in 2012, or nearly four times the national average of 2.8 percent and the highest rate by far  of the country’s nine census regions.

 

 

“Kayaks are very easy for a female to transport and are not high maintenance,” said Morrill, a vice president and specialty sports buyer at KTP.  “It is very easy for a person with a busy schedule to paddle for short periods of time.”

 

 

Morrill specifically called out Thule’s Hullavator as an example of products that have made kayaking more accessible to women.

 

 

McKenzie added that a growing number of kayak brands are adding female athletes to their teams, which is generating more media coverage that makes outdoor sports seem more accessible than ever to women at all stages of life. Luke LaBree, who handles marketing communications for Johnson Outdoors Watercraft Inc., calls this the “X Games factor,” in reference to the growing number of women competing in extreme sports.

 

 

“James Brown can't sing the same tune anymore… It's not just a man's world,” said LaBree. “Girls and women have shown that they can compete and play right along with men in these “atypical” sports. Additionally, our Pro Staff includes some really inspiring female members who are living proof that paddling knows no gender bounds.”

 

 

Paddlesports dealers are also doing their part. At Canoecopia – the huge consumer show hosted by Wisconsin retailer Rutabaga over the weekend, 26 of 88 speakers were women, including a grandmother who delivered seminar on how to plan a solo expedition. At The New England Paddlesports Show, which KTP will host March 28-30, 15 or 35 seminars will be presented by women, including many employed by vendors.

 

A first-ever Stand Up Paddling section in the report reveals how valuable these customers can be. While only 1.5 million people participated in SUP in 2012, 44 percent earned more than $100,000 and 59 percent had four years or more of college. Among kayakers – the next most affluent group of paddlers – those numbers were 35 and 51 percent.
Adding SUPs has helped KTP draw a valuable new demographic to its massive store near the New Hampshire-Maine border.

 

“They are very affluent and they have done a lot of research prior to coming in,” said Morrill. “They are buying ski equipment and, more specifically, buying clothing, after realizing we have one of best winter clothing stores in the northeast. “

SUP sales exploded at The New England Paddlesports Show in 2013, more than making up for flat kayak sales, said Morrill.


 

Rising participation rates may reflect an industry that is becoming better at nurturing the virtuous circle of innovation in which  a small core of enthusiasts push manufacturers for innovations, which reduce barriers to participation for novices,  whose purchases help finance investments in research and development.

 

 

“Many of our boats use all our technology and design engineering to deliver the performance and comfort demanded by seasoned paddlers and pros, but our team is now able to incorporate functions that let a new paddler feel successful and build some confidence,” said McKenzie, which like its rival Johnson Outdoors Watersports has consolidated design, R&D and manufacturing into a state-of-the art facility in the last two years. “As we continue to push the sport forward with advances in the factory, we are essentially opening up the sport on both ends, allowing those at the top to keep rising and those just starting out to enter the sport with ease.”

 

 

If nothing else, this year’s report marks an important milestone for the paddlesports industry, by documenting that participation in kayaking (10.3 million) overtook participation in canoeing (9.8 million) for the first time in 2012. While this may seem like an afterthought given the well documented decline in canoe sales, one wonders what this portends for the pace of innovation.

 

 

The 2013 Special Report on Paddlesports can be downloaded for free from the Outdoor Industry Association's web site.