[MHml] Rave

[Ira Heller]

Pretty well done history but a little off on the timeline.

To begin, I’ll post something from the current Confluence Watersport website

-----------------------
      Peer beneath the surface of today’s 
Confluence Watersports Company and you’ll find a 
company built upon the passions of
      outdoor industry pioneers. Each of our 
leading brands can point to dynamic individuals 
who were driven to improve the sports
      they loved by creating products that 
improved the experience for their fellow enthusiasts.

      In 1986, Andy Zimmerman and John Sheppard 
began attracting attention among their paddling buddies for their innovative
      composite whitewater kayaks. Word of mouth 
turned a handful of boats built for themselves 
and friends into a budding enterprise.

      And Wilderness Systems was born.

      By the early ‘90s the pair had added 
touring boats and polyethylene recreational 
kayaks to their line, a diversification
      that paced the growing sport. Wilderness 
Systems grew at a frenetic pace and in 1998 merged with Waitsfield, Vermont’s
      legendary Mad River Canoe.

      Founded by Jim and Kay Henry in 1971, Mad 
River Canoe was widely acknowledged as the industry’s premier canoe
      manufacturer. The Henrys, both accomplished 
paddlers, started their enterprise in their back 
yard because, like Zimmerman and
      Sheppard, they couldn’t find boats that 
performed to their standards. The Henry’s first design, Malecite, became the
      company’s signature canoe. Jim won the 
first of many national whitewater championships 
in that design, and that success
      fostered many, many more.

      The Mad River/Wilderness Systems merger 
brought with it Voyageur Ltd., a Kansas company founded by Jack Scarrit, and
      renowned for a patented waterproof sliding 
closure that revolutionized dry bags. Voyageur offered a full line of paddling
      accessories.
-----------------------

Andy Zimmerman was also an avid sailor and 
probably in 1993 approached Jim Brown about 
designing a small demountable trimaran to be 
constructed using the same roto-molding process 
they were using for their kayaks.  The result was 
the 1994 introduction of the WindRider 16, a 
uni-rig, wave piercing trimaran.  As many of you 
have experienced, the WR16 can be a very wet 
ride.  That is because the first production boats 
out of the mold shrunk more than expected and 
hence had less volume in the bows and rode lower 
in the water than expected.  So although the 
prototype handled its wave piercing duties with 
aplomb (riding high through the wave tops), the 
production boats took a lower line through the 
wave tops.  Unfortunately, the tooling could not 
be modified and that was that.  The addition of a 
horizontal spray diverter extending from the 
cockpit to the bow helped deflect some of the 
water.  Spray skirts were also useful.

The Rave was introduced in 1998.  It was designed 
by Dr. Sam Bradfield and his company 
Hydrosail.  This was about the time of the Mad 
River/Wilderness Systems merger that resulted in 
Confluence Watersports.  The Rave was just a pet 
project of Andy Zimmerman and was not just a 
carrot to attract an investor to purchase the WindRider brand from Confluence.

The WindRider 10 and WindRider 17 (designed by 
Jim Brown (the WR17, not the WR10)) were introduced in 2001.

As the marketplace changed with the emergence of 
new strong players in the roto-molded kayak 
market and Wilderness Systems dominance waned, 
their interest in sinking marketing money into a 
division (WindRider) that didn’t generate net 
profits also waned.  Of course, I've always felt 
that it was somewhat of a chicken and egg 
situation that if more money had been allocated 
to marketing the WindRider products would have 
been more successful.  Witness the introduction 
of the WR17.  In the first years following its 
introduction, we would sell a 1/2 dozen boats off 
the floor of the New England Boat Show to walk-in 
customers who had never seen a single word of 
advertising.  By the way, the “WindRider 
Nationals”, held in Ft Walton Beach, FL from 1999 
– 2001, were also a victim of the loss of revenue stream.

Confluence Watersports sold off the WindRider 
brand in 2005 and the assets were relocated to 
Sandstone, Minnesota (approx 90 mi north of 
Minneapolis).  The organized as WindRider 
LLC.  Their purchase included all of the molds 
for the complete product line but to date they 
have only been producing the WindRider 17.

The Rave is still listed on their website < 
<http://www.windrider.com/>www.windrider.com > 
and perhaps the would actually build new Raves, 
but I expect only if orders were to reach some 
critical mass.  That is, it would not be worth 
their while to build one boat.  The problem is 
likely not with the roto-molded parts but with 
the building the internal structural frame and the t-foil assemblies.

The rest of Chris' comments are pretty much spot on.

Regards, Ira.

PS:  We actually still have a new, never sailed, 
Rave in stock complete with a trailer if anyone is interested.


Chris Ostlind <Chris at Wedgesail.com>, on 12/6/2007, wrote:

 > Since nobody else has a taken on this topic...
 >
 > The Rave came out of the kayak industry. The 
parent company of Windrider sailing boats was Confluence
 > Watersports which also owned Wilderness 
Systems kayaks, Wavesport whitewater boats, Mad River Canoe
 > and Harmony Accessories. They now also own 
Perception kayaks, Dagger kayaks, Adventure
 > Technology paddles and a generic brand, Mainstream.
 >
 > The Confluence brand emerged when Wilderness 
Systems acquired/developed the initial brand companies as
 > shown above. They then developed Windrider as 
a sailing extension to their overall corporate line so
 > they could make a move into sailing at the 
car-toppable/small trailer level.
 >
 > Windrider first emerged with the Jim Brown 
designed Windrider 16, (very fun boat, by the way) that was
 > followed by the Windrider 10 which was 
designed by Mark Balogh. There was a conscious decision to
 > hook-up with Dr. Bradfield to develop the 
Windrider Rave product. The Rave established Windrider as a
 > technologically driven company within the over all Confluence umbrella.
 >
 > I suspect that the Rave was purely developed 
to make the Confluence brand more attractive to an investor
 > group and had only a small amount to do with 
actually getting a production foiling multihull out
 > on the market, where it could truly generate sales and a following.
 >
 > Windrider went on to develop the Windrider 17 
in concert with Jim Brown (again) and proceeded to
 > market that boat with some degree of gusto in 
the marketplace. At the same time, the Rave was slowly
 > dwindling away as sales were on the slow side 
and there was not the type of corporate support that
 > would, or could, make the difference.
 >
 > The company was acquired by investors who had 
made a killing in the stock market and probably thought it
 > very cool to own a kayak business. They knew 
virtually nothing about the business of boating, or
 > the psychology, of small craft boaters and how 
they went about making their purchases.
 >
 > There was a huge shift in the 
kayak/canoe/whitewater market at the same time, as several really huge
 > companies emerged to, (Watermark and Johnson 
Outdoors) more or less, control the market.. save
 > for the much smaller, non-acquired firms, 
still catering to aligned issues of paddler response,
 > customer service and non-leveraged dealings 
with the shops that carried their brands.
 >
 > In all this big business BS, the Rave product 
got totally lost and slipped away into ignominy, just as
 > the, now discontinued, Hobie Trifoiler did. 
Too complex a boat, too much hassle at the launch site,
 > too narrow of a bandwidth for really nasty 
sailing speeds, etc. Just too many too's to make for a great
 > boat. The Trifoiler may have suffered from 
other issues and if Greg Ketterman reads this list,
 > perhaps he can illuminate the process.
 >
 > I've sailed both the Trifoiler and the Rave in 
San Pedro, California's Hurricane Gulch and found them
 > to be wonderful machines... when in their 
element. They really like smooth, more or less protected
 > waters, with a steady, potent breeze to 
light-up their potential. Both boats can really haul-ass in
 > those conditions and can generate certifiable, 
neck warping G-forces in turns, as well as flat-out
 > straight-line velocity that smokes the fastest 
of beach cats, regardless of size. Both of these boats
 > have clocked in the mid, thirty knot region in 
the right conditions and are, without a doubt, true high
 > performers on a reasonable budget. There just 
aren't many sailors who find the whole, ultra-performance
 > deal, all that compelling. And so, they died.
 >
 > I see the Moth foilers as being a part of that 
same paradigm. Sure, they can bring it in the hands of a
 > tuned and talented sailor, but they also have 
to be fiddled with to launch, cost a bundle for what you
 > get and if they break, how long does it take 
to get the parts to get that bad boy back on track?
 >
 > The Rave sorted through many of these same 
negative issues several years ago and there aren't really any
 > good solutions in the works since then. You 
want to go hyper-fast, then expect to hyper-fiddle to get
 > there. Such have been the rules for all really 
fast vehicles (of any kind) since day one.
 >
 > Others may have their own take on all this, but that's mine.
 >
 > Chris


Ira Heller
The Multihull Source
http://www.themultihullsource.com