Aries & Dephinius
Published August 26, 2009 | 
For 2010 P&H Kayaks has a variety of new kayaks on the way including a new kids WW kayak, some new river runners and of course a few new sea kayaks. The new sea kayaks include the highly anticipated Aries 150 & 155, & the Corelite version called the Delphinus. They will also be introducing a couple new LV versions of the Cetus as well.
The Aries & the Corelite Dephinius play off the agile Cetus / Scorpio designs. They are re-sculpted to get the most out a high energy environment which means they are aimed to shine in crazy water and tide race play. P&H tells us both models offer quick acceleration for catching waves and surging through gaps, ample rocker for fast response, and a pronounced mid section to allow the kayaks to side-surf and spin on edge. Personally I have a love of sea kayaks designed for high energy environments because they handle well on a day paddle and only improve when things get dicey. I’m sure we’ll be hearing more about the Aries & Delphinius over the next year.
The two lower volume Cetus renditions have a lot of check boxes still marked “TBA” but what I can tell you is that there is a 176 (17’ 5”), and a 178 (17’ 8”) version. The decreased volume should make this already superb handling kayak a great fit for smaller and younger paddlers.
So there’s something to look forward too! Now, lest you think I’m shilling for P&H, I certainly invite any kayak manufacturers to zip out info on their 2010 models to share with us. One thing you have to give the guys at P&H is they are hot on the trigger to market their kayaks.. and I’m sure it’s paying off.
13 Responses to Aries & Dephinius
One thing you have to give the guys at P&H is they are hot on the trigger to market their kayaks…
I couldn’t make the same conclusion from browsing their website. I’d say they are still sticking to the “inside man” model. Yes, I knew already that there were new kayaks in the pipeline, but just because I happened across some PH paddlers.
Derrick, you manage to update your website two times a day, sometimes more. That is on top of your “day job”. PH, on the other hand, only managed 4 postings in the “News” this year.
It is really great that their kayaks are awesome and market themselves
LOL! You know, I’d agree with that if I only had their website to go by and YEAH, they really should do more there. But web-wise they are all over Facebook, Twitter, not to mention 2 or 3 guys seem to always show up whenever there is a discussion out there. They also are very good at swarming symposiums and paddle shows. Not just to sell products mind you, but also to act as instructors, do presentations and such. I think you’d be hard pressed to find another manufacturer that is covering the bases as well. But yeah, I agree the website could be more.. a… lively.
…plus it could be said by comparison that I just have no life!!!
Facebook? Twitter? What are they ?
Oh, neither are mentioned on the PH site
Derrick, given your post “Old Is Fine, Sometimes It’s Flakey”, I doubt you would ever want to be bombarded by manufacturers with press releases for you to publish on your site… As for aggressive marketing, while it certainly sells boats, it has zero correlation with actual boat quality.
Maybe you should adopt a new rule to avoid becoming a billboard for manufacturers: I shall not speak of any new kayak before it is at least 6 months old AND offers something new in its design that truly was not already out there before… That should limit you to about one boat every other year, if that…
And as instructor, should not you emphasize the primacy of skills over the boat? As in Body, Boat, Paddle…
Correction, Body, Boat, Blade…
(If one day you happen to have absolutely nothing to do, which I guess will be whenever pigs fly, what about an editing function?…)
Hey Dominique.. Lots of things I could say on that..
1. While we old dogs may say “old is fine”.. there are always new folks who need to pick their first kayak so it can become their old kayak..
2. I don’t mind being bombarded with press releases… Does not mean I have to post them all… I don’t now.
What would really jazz me up though is finding that something called, “innovative” really is.. Just a thought.
3. If I just wrote about 1 boat every other year.. basic skill work & the odd expedition I could quit writing about kayaking right now.. Fact is to write almost daily for what now, almost 6 years.. I can use all the content material I can get.. I may not use it but I’m always looking for ideas.. Certainly some days are better than others..
I think if you are registered you can edit your posts. I know If I’m logged in as a user I can edit mine…
Hi Gang:
OK–guilty as charged on the oldschool website. Most of what we have been doing with new media has been through individual team paddlers and reps. Kelly Blades, the Midwest guy is active, as am I. I try to make a Twitter post when a new boat comes into the US. We are always pretty excited when we get to pull something new out of the container. You can follow me on Twitter (boring as that may be) at BrianPDay. I will give a shout for sure when the first Delphin comes in.
On the new Cetus sizes–the new 176 is actually the already existing Cetus LV. We are adding a mid size (the Cetus 178) that should work well for paddlers around the 175 pound mark. The current Cetus is great if you are 190 and up or need a bit more volume for gear. One thing that we have noticed is that mid sized people have been cramming themselves into the Cetus LV this year. We want to offer those folks a boat that will really fit.
I might also put in a bit of a plug for things that are new. Our boats have certainly undergone a transformation over the past several years. Stability, edge-control and sea kindliness have all improved over many of the more classic P&H designs. If we had stuck with the old style of designs we would have fewer happy paddlers in Capellas and Cetuses today.
Old is good. But sometimes new can be an awful lot of fun.
Brian
P&H Northeast Guy
“Old is good. But sometimes new can be an awful lot of fun.”
True when it is really new, for example like a Maelstrom Vital… That’s a fun boat!
As for old designs, many have just rightly disappeared from catalogs (as I bet will happen to many if not most of the “new” ones). The real advantage of old though is that the few that remain are classic, exceptional hulls, full of character.
Thanks Brian.. I knew one of the LVs was already in production but I was not sure which.. thanks for clearing that up!
P&H has WAY improved since when I first started paddling and found an old P&H with a paddle recess molded into the back!! Apparently that kayak came with a spare??
The point I think is that we get buried in “NEW” and 90% of it is just repackaged, hyped or copied and not really new at all. Which is where I was going with the post. However, there certainly are those occasional, wonderful sparks of evolution. The Cetus is a distinct up-click in boat designs if you ask me.. (I’ve never seen a Maelstrom up close!)
The real problem is that these days there are so many companies out there who are not so much innovative as competitive cost cutters who take quality down the tube with them or worse yet disappoint and kill the inspiration in new paddlers before they ever really get started.
Thanks for being the only one to publish info on one brand of MANY new kayaks introduced at OR and around the globe recently. As someone who has no interest in becoming a tweeter or splashing my face on the face place, I must say P & H’s site is old and lame. No new info from a company with new product to sell and a claim of talented web savy pro paddlers. Much of the kayak industry only dabbles in updating there web sites once or twice a year. Not very sticky, thus generally a waste of time if you want to know about even these saps new products. I echo superior kayak guys sentiment with regards to the marketing and response to product inquiry. I will ignore the inevitable responses or excuses for inaction on the manufactures parts. As a gear guy and former retailer, the marketing efforts of many manufactures is inadequate at best and a disservice to there investors and customers.
Thanks again for your efforts and interest. BTW I have enjoyed some of the many new designs and the improvements that come with them. Hope to hear more from those with a vested interest.
DC
I agree that the website is uber-lame. My guess is that it could be redone very easily with an app like 3DCart or that they could perhaps trade a kayak to someone we know for a website…I’m sure something could be worked out…Just thinking out loud.
I haven’t seen a Maelstrom up close either, but I have been in discussions with Guy at Boreal who is the importer of record, I believe. I want to see one and paddle one, of course, before making any decisions about them, but they look pretty dang cool.
Re: Marketing — that’s a tricky one…if you market too much you’re seen as insincere and fake, if you don’t market at all, you’re probably going out of business. That’s if you look at marketing like Madison Avenue — all sizzle, no steak.
I view marketing more as a simple “tell your story” model. If you have a good story, it’ll be easy. If you have a really shitty story (think tobacco companies or those people who sell Old Milwaukee), you need to find ways to distract people from the product. P&H has a good story and their website should tell it. Hell, Old Town has (had) a good story and they do a horrible job of showing their heritage. Probably because they don’t think it’s important. That’s the beginning of the end — forgetting your roots or dismissing them as irrelevant.
Shutting up now.
Im searching for sites related to this. Glad I found you. Thanks