I guess it’s time I created a Kayak category on my Blog. There’s likely to be a lot of posts to it during my current period of obsessiveness.
Last Saturday (8th Aug 2009), Lou and I went Kayaking on the river Camel. We started from Wadebridge and paddled upstream to Polbrock. Despite a few problems getting started due to currents and tides, we had a great time and really enjoyed ourselves.
The Good News
As planned, I took out the RTM Disco which is my favourite Kayak at the moment and the one I hope to buy soon. I felt quite confident in it which was pleasing as it’s not usually a beginners choice due to the feeling of instability when you first get in it. Having pretty much made up my mind about the Disco, I decided it was time to look at the prices and options available.
The Bad News
The first thing I discovered about the price is that’s it’s a more expensive kayak than I had been expecting. Until now all the reviews and prices I’d seen were from the US where the Disco retails at $579. At the current exchange rate (£1 = $1.66) that equates to £348. Here in the UK, the Disco is retailing at an enormous £509, around 46% higher than the US retail. I can’t imagine how they justify this huge difference when the Disco is manufactured in France, just across the channel from here. The likely answer is just that they can get away with it as all Kayaks seem to be more expensive over here. I’d like to check out the price in France but despite RTM being a French company, they don’t list a single native dealer on their website!