X-ray'd Kirri Paddle

One of our customers sent this cool video in a few days after receiving their paddle. Apparently they had a slow day at the office and full access to some very cool scanning equipment. The result is a full scanning X-ray of the blade / shaft joint in a Kirri WW Bent shaft Paddle. A new perspective on the strongest joint in the industry. Thanks Mike.

Very cool. Thought I would share.... : )


Cheers,

Steve Horvath
CORE Paddles Inc.

Kirri Reviews Trickling In

After much work and anticipation the initial reviews on the Kirri WW stuff is starting to trickle in.  We had a lot of production trouble over the past 7-8 months but the reviews I am receiving are vindication for the work we have put into the new sticks. Awesome.

First off I would like to thank some industry fixtures for switching over to CORE. Travis Winn from Last Descents a guiding service in China and Kayak the Nile a guiding service in Uganda. Both of these companies chose CORE because of the requirements for dependability and performance in thier respective locales.

Travis Winn
www.lastdescents.com

Travis sent me a note earlier this year saying that he had to get some of our sticks for his guiding company in China. He had bumped into Benn Marr on an expedition last year and fell in love with the new Kirri's. After much shipping coordination we were able to get some paddles into his hands while he was in the states this spring. Travis' initial reaction to the paddles... awesome.

"The Core paddle is durable, light, and responsive.  To me the next piece of gear next to a kayak in terms of being able to enjoy the river is a paddle, and for years I had been a strong fan of AT, and also at different times used Werner and Lightning paddles.  For long distance paddling and the overall well being of my upper body over the length of my paddling career, from my forearms to my shoulders and back, I discovered that using a bent shaft is the only reasonable choice.  I was reminded of this poignantly earlier this year after borrowing my sister's straight shaft paddle for a 21 day Grand Canyon trip, as by day 8 my shoulders were so torqued that I couldn't paddle the remainder of the trip without fear of injury.  However, historically every bent shaft I have used has been too weak to depend on.  Not so with Core Paddle's aluminum shaft.  Heavy?  No.  Because the blades are carbon fiber, whatever extra weight might involved with the aluminum shaft, which is minimal in the first place, is so close to your core that you don't notice.  From the blade shape to the angle and feel of the rubber grips, which are slightly narrower than most paddle shafts, the paddle feels like an extension of one's body in how it connects to the water.  To me this is how a paddle should feel - it is certainly my top choice of paddles after trying all of the different options."

Ben Fraser

CORE Team Paddler

Yeah, I know Ben is going to be a little biased because he is a team boater but his input was influential in adjustments we made to the Kirri series befor putting it into production. Ben got his first production Kirri a couple of weeks ago and in return we received this. Very cool.

Had the new blades at Garb yesterday :) one word... awesome... pretty much sums it up. I'm super stoked with yet another weight reduction. I love the crisp feel of a carbon blade slicing through the water. This is without a doubt the finest paddle I have ever used :) the combination of  crazy strength with light weight delivers unparalleled performance. Its small diameter has almost 0 drag in the water. I've jumped up and down on a shaft, not sure how i could break one, its like a spring :) honestly can't find a single bad thing to say lol oh ya and interestingly the carbon blades on this shaft act as both mic and speaker so as you paddle in a quiet spot you can hear your blade enter the water from the one next to your head... cooooollllll

We are getting lots of photos and kind words from all over the world regarding the Kirri series. I will post more reviews as I sort through them.... : ) 

Steve Horvath

CORE Paddles

First Production Run of Kirri WW Ready to Ship

We started receiving the initial batches of Kirri blades from our supplier about 2 weeks ago and have been working on pulling all of the pieces together for production since. Last week we were able to get into our grip molders to have the first run of 2012 production grips molded onto the shafts we needed and Nick spent the better part of this week assembling the first run.

The first run is now boxed and waiting for pick up.... yay... : ). I was personally waiting for these to arrive as I don't even have a Kirri to paddle with. They are gorgeous too.

The initial 2 - 3 production runs will be heading out to those people who have been patiently waiting since last year for their pre-orders to fill. Those people waiting on Batto upgrades will have their paddles rebuilt as we receive them for rebuild. Batto rebuilds will get priority as we move forward but we should have enough stock

coming in to clear all back orders in the coming month.

Cheers,

Steve Horvath

CEO - Founder

CORE Paddles

2012 WW Batto Series Blades

We have had quite a few requests for info. on the changes we are making to the Batto Series so I wanted to put a post some details to tease...

Given the problems we ran into with our previous injection molder we opted to dial back some of the more advanced design details of the previous Batto in order to ensure that mold ability was not a limiting constrain. Sometimes pushing the envelope causes a great deal of stress and I was more interested in ensuring that this blade was able to meet our internal specs 100% of the time. In doing so I stumbled upon a rather interesting feature.

In designing the new blade along a more traditional spine profile we were able to reduce the expected part weight by almost 40 gms. per blade while dramatically increasing the overall failure strength. This in conjunction with the lower core volume will allow these blades to be molded using more traditional means. Hence we are expecting our new supplier to be able to provide perfect blades 100% of the time right out of the gate.

CAD wire frame model. 2012 Batto.

CAD shell model. 2012 Batto.

As with all of the designs I produce I did a complete range of FEA tests on various design iterations to drive the development. Tiny changes in the profile can lead to incremental increases in overall strength and these can ultimately lead to significant improvement in the design. Now one of the surprising attributes of the new blade is the physical strength characteristics. I was expecting a larger drop in stiffness due to the loss of the large core volume in the blade itself. What we found was a stiffness loss of only 4% in the tip. This is almost negligible but the interesting point was the transfer of energy from the tip to the shaft throat. We were seeing a much smoother energy transition. This results in a stronger part even with the 40gm weight loss.

 FEA 2012 Batto. Deflection analysis.

 FEA 2012 Batto. Stress analysis.

So in light of the above I am extremely happy with the new blade design. This has gone off to tooling and we will give updates on timing. I can now present photo renderings of the 2012 CORE Batto series WW blades.

Photos and details of the 2012 Batto touring series blades and center joint coming soon.

Steve Horvath
CORE Paddles Inc.

Kirri WW Paddles in Full Production

So after about a month of running around and getting things back in gear we are finally starting to see some headway. Last Friday we received our first full set of production Kirri blades. They look awesome.

They also came out slightly lighter than expected due to a special foam core our supplier has started using. Complete paddle weight on a Kirri WW is under 1000gm. We believe this is the first paddle to break that mark as they are ridiculously light. The best part is that when they are matched to our proprietary Easton shaft they are also super strong. No strength deficit with weight reduction on these.

I am also super happy we stuck to our intent and sourced these in North America. Yes, that's right; these are 100% North American made. No off shore sourcing. Nick is cutting these into profile over the next two days and the first batch of full production Kirri WW paddles will be shipping within the next 3-4 days.

It looks like about the first full month of production is already spoken for as we are still catching up on pre-orders from last year. Anyone waiting for a stick should send us a quick note to make sure we haven't misplaced your order.

We are still however about 6-8 weeks away from the new Batto series blades being ready. This will put us behind for this season but I am determined to make sure the new blades meet our spec. given the issues we had with our last molder. I am dialing in the new designs now and will post some shots / updates soon.

Anyone waiting on a Batto series pre-order will have the option of upgrading thier order to a Kirri at a reduced rate. You will have to have had an order in the system already to take advantage of this offer. Anyone waiting should send us an email.

But for now... one last shot of the nicest carbon blades on the planet.

Will post some shots of the full paddles once we get a bunch built up.

For those of you still trying to reach us please remain patient as we are sporadically in the shop while we get things moving again. Will be another month or so befor we are 100%.

Cheers,

Steve Horvath

CORE Paddles

Not Dead Yet / Getting Back Into the Office

So after having to take quite a bit of time away from CORE, due to my health, I am now able to start getting back into the office a bit. Still have days with some heavy chest congestion but they seem to be coming fewer and farther between. It looks like the days of needing 18+ hours of sleep are behind me. So, with much contemplation I am slowly returning to work and in the process making some major changes to the company.

My being ill made me realize that I can't operate CORE in a capacity that requires my 100% input all of the time. If I become incapacitated I need to have people in place that can run CORE without me. With that being said I am changing how CORE is set up.
First of all our customer service has been crap. I am fully aware of this and it is easily the most important item to fix. It has been crap mainly because I haven't been reachable, in particular to those people that have had some problems with paddles. This is a huge issue for me as building an awesome product means nothing if you can't back it up. So in order to make sure that customer service is a top priority we are hiring a general manager to take over day to day operations, sales and general contact. We have someone in mind at present but are still working out the contractual details befor we release a name.

Second, I need to go through all of our production and optimize it moving forward. Last year was always supposed to be a sample year. Get some product out and see if there are any issues. With just under a full season of having product in play we have seen some areas that are amazing and some that need attention.

It turns out that our Easton shaft technology is as absolutely amazing as we thought. ZERO failures. None. Not even through our Pro-Team. So our shafts and grips are finished as far as development work is concerned. Kirri blades are awesome. New Kirri production blades are lighter and stronger than I had hoped: all made in North America and they look incredible. Our Batto series plastic blades however did not meet my expectations....

We saw some failures that indicated a problem with the injection molding. When we traced it back to our suppliers we found that they were not able to consistently meet the specifications we had provided. Our return rate was higher than we had targeted and when we investigated the issues it became clear that our molder could not provide parts to a uniform spec. This was a huge piss-off as I spent almost a year designing the original Batto blades. The molder we used swore up and down that they could make them to spec.... which turned out to be less than truthful. Unfortunately pushing the envelope sometimes causes a lot of push back. With this in mind we have decided to make some focused revisions to our plastic part designs, production tooling, and injection molding suppliers.

Both the WW and tour Batto series blades are getting a revamp for 2012. I am modifying the designs in order to ensure specified part strength at the molding level. We have also sourced some of the best gas assist consultants in North America to help optimize everything from design to sourcing to materials. These consultants have been invaluable in providing targeted input into all aspects of the modifications we are making. These changes are being made at present and should allow us to be back in FULL production for all paddles for April.

Any customer with a suspect Batto series paddle will have the option of a rebuild using the new blades or an upgrade to Kirri series blades. This will be available to all paddlers who purchased Batto product in the 2011 model year. Any shops that have Batto stock will have it replaced if requested. If a paddler would like to upgrade to Kirri blades we will be able to accommodate in March. If they would like new replacement Batto series blades it will be early April.

So for the next 2-3 weeks I am going to be immersed in development work. Setting up the new molder and getting production moving will be a full time affair. If anyone needs to get ahold of me for any reason email is still the best option as I will only be in the office sporadically. I will try my utmost to respond to requests quickly but please keep in mind we are still technically closed until March.

My goal with CORE has always been to build a product that is stronger and higher performance than any of our competitors. With the above changes we will have a complete paddle line, and customer service, that meets all of my expectations and easily exceeds any of our customer's.

To recap -

New manager coming on the in next few weeks.

Kirri series blades are starting production now. We have a North American source for all composite parts and are expecting to have the entire Kirri line in production in March.

Batto series blades will be in production for April.

2012 model line details will be posted on the blog and website soon. Lots of new stuff for 2012. Even though I was ill most of this should make it to market this season.

And one last note.... a HUGE thank you to everyone who has emailed or called to wish me all of the best. I know I have not been able to respond to everyone but it was great to hear from so many people while I was ill.

And to those that tried to reach me but did not receive a response. Again my apologies.

Steve Horvath
CORE Paddles

Being Sick Sucks and Wrapping up 2011.

Has been a while since I posted a note on the blog. I wanted to get a note out to let everyone know that I wasn't dead. Sure felt like it but I am still here and slowly getting back into day to day operations.

I started feeling ill around the end of June this past summer. Shortness of breath, headaches, coughing, lack of energy, etc. I had been burning the candle at both ends with CORE, and some other projects for Dragon Fire, and I figured I was just in need of some rest. So I started taking a bit of time off to try and recover. The cough went away but the general feeling of exhaustion did not.

This continued for most of the summer and progressively got worse up to OR. I was able to get through OR but upon returning home it got worse again. Had to head in to the doctors to get an idea of what was going on. After some testing I was informed that I had pneumonia. Was told to take some time off and completely rest. Unfortunately this was very bad timing as I had a ton of stuff I needed to get done for CORE... but my health had to come first so I added some additional time away to sleep.

I also had a business trip scheduled to the west coast in Oct. Had to work around this as it was an absolute necessity that I be able to travel for it. I was meeting with the suppliers for the Kirri blades as well as some key retailers. Headed out on the plane and within 2 days I was sick again. This time much worse than anything I had experienced previously. Lost my voice, couldn't breath and was coughing up heavy scar tissue. I was starting to get very concerned. Was also worried that I wouldn't be able to fly but it started to clear up and I was able to get home.

Once home I went straight back to the doctors.... who sent me to the hospital for x-rays and tests. After some additional poking and prodding it looks like they found the cause. Apparently I have had a festering sinus infection for a very long time. This would cause my throat and lungs to become infected due to post nasal drip and stress from work. For the past two weeks I have been on harsh antibiotics, daily nasal rinse, steroids and an inhaler. Was told to do absolutely no activity as the scar tissue in my lungs could become permanent if I overdid it. This could cause lung capacity decrease which could be a major issue to someone who is fairly active.


After two weeks on the above it looks like it is finally clearing up.... I can breath again and the post nasal drip is substantially decreasing. So all in all I had recurring pneumonia precipitated by a sinus infection for almost 5+ months.

I am slowly getting back into the swing of things... and in the process making some big changes at CORE for 2012.

2011 was supposed to be a "test" year. Release a small amount of product, address any issues in production and adjust everything to be ready for full production in 2012. All of this was going to plan... the only problem was I did not anticipate being ill and incapacitated.

Me becoming sick pretty much ground CORE to a halt. This very much indicated that I needed to put people in place that could run everything should I not be able to.

So this fall we are hiring a general manager / sales manager to run day to day operations. We are modifying production to account for some of the deficiencies we saw over the year. We are doing all of this to be on track for full production Jan. 2012.

To anyone that had an issue with a paddle but could not get a hold of me I apologize.
I totally understand that my disappearance caused some major stress and I am working to ensure that never happens again. I will be responding to my backlogged emails over the next two days.

Will be posting regular updates again in the coming weeks. Even though I have been out for a bit there is lots of stuff happening for 2012.

Steve Horvath
CORE Paddles Inc.