Hi SteveWhilst well known on the UK kayaking scene,can you give our international readers a littleinformation on your background inwatersports and how you came to starttootega?I started paddling at the age of seven – I was immediatelyhooked!

Initially my background was in marathon and recreationalwhitewater, but this quickly developed into a passion forfreestyle kayaking, every possible spare moment was spenton the Thames weirs, or any other play feature I couldpersuade someone to give me a lift to…

In 2000 I got on to the GB freestyle team and spent thesummer traveling around Europe – from the Europeanchampionships in Norway to the Euro cup finals inSwitzerland. We were spoilt with an endless number of bigwave features and I became horribly addicted to powerful,dynamic wave moves.

Once the summer was over I ended up moving to Norfolk(UK) which isn’t exactly blessed with many wave featuresand so started spending more and more time on the ocean.

About this time I met James, who I now run Tootega with.He was a like-minded spirit and we quickly started paddlingas often as possible together, bunking off work and goingAWOL anytime there was good surf within driving distance.

From the day I met him, James was interested in boatdesign, but it wasn’t until I came back from a trip to surfTeahupoo in Tahiti in 2003 that we seriously started todiscuss designing a kayak together.

Taking my experience from riding heavy and hollow waves,James’ knowledge of boat building, and a lot of input fromtop waveski shaper Kevin Andriessen, we shaped our firstkayak – the Envy, and took it to the World Surf KayakChampionships in Ireland in October 2003.

The next bit is a bit blurry, but the Envy was so radical thatit created a lot of interest from people who wanted us todevelop kayak designs for them. Initially we designed a fewmore surf kayaks, but somehow this turned into sit-on-topdevelopment.

In 2008 we were finally in a position to leave our day jobsand become full time designers, initially for someone else’sbrand, but in 2010 we launched Tootega in a quest to designexactly what we wanted without compromise in terms ofdesign or quality.

In the summer of 2011 we decided it wasn’t just enough toown our own brand, we needed to have control ofproduction too, and so we begun building our own factoryhere in Norfolk, and since our first kayak left the productionline in the winter of 2011 we haven’t looked back.

Main pic: James (left) and Steve (right) at Tootega’s production facilities in Norfolk

Talking kayaks, and design with ex-GB freestyler, surf fanatic and co-owner of

Tootega…

Steve Childs

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What are the hidden little extradetails you may find in a Tootegakayak?We have a process called engineeredstrength. Once a design has gone throughbasic testing and we are happy with thegeneral shape and size of the kayak we workto incorporate shape and feature thatincreases stiffness, increases strength, orincreases plastic thickness in a key area.

A great example of this is the drainage gulleyaround the central hatch in our Pulse andKinetic ranges. This gulley isn’t actuallyprimarily there to drain water. It is there toadd corrugation to the seating area, helpingstiffness. It is there to ‘trap’ plastic during themoulding process, helping to make the seatarea thicker. Finally it is there to isolate thehatch from the flexing you will inevitably getas you move around on the seat whilstpaddling, helping to prevent the hatch fromleakage.

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Where does the company nameoriginate?The name Tootega comes from ancient Inuitmythology. Tootega was a wizened goddesswho could walk on water, and was aprotectorate of the Eskimo fishing fleets.

Tootega have a very impressivemanufacturing facility, customoutfitting and warehouse in Norfolk– why did you choose that area ofthe UK in which to set Tootega up?Norfolk has one of the most progressiveengineering sectors anywhere in the country.Within 15 minutes drive of the factory wehave three different formula one teams, and awhole raft of other experimental facilities.

Put simply, it’s a great place to find the skillsand equipment to try new and innovativethings (we also get some amazing surf nowand then).

Each and every kayak youmanufacture is made at yourfactory in Norfolk, why is thisimportant to you?Consistency and control!

Making our product in our own facility notonly gives us absolute control over thematerials we specify, how we make our boats,and of course quality but it also allows us tobe very reactive to market demands – we canchange what models and colours we areproducing at the drop of a hat. This meansless stock and better service to ourcustomers.

Another key advantage of having not only theproduction, but the product design andmould tool manufacture onsite is we canconsider how a kayak is going to be made aswe develop the design itself – ultimatelymeaning stiffer, lighter, and more durablekayaks!

Are you personally involved in thedesign process of the kayak – howdoes your wide experience ofkayaking help in this area?Yes, James and I head up every design project.Between us we have over 40 years paddlingexperience in a huge variety of craft, and wecouldn’t do our job without it.

Knowledge and theory are vitally importantfor sure, but understanding how somethingwill ‘feel’ in the water can only come fromexperience, a few good beatings, and plenty of trial and error!

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What area of the design process doyou personally feel is mostimportant and how do your kayaksreflect that?Seating position – simple!

A well thought out kayak or canoe designshould all revolve around something we callthe centre of effort, it’s essentially thebalance point for you sitting in the kayak.

Everything should by effected by this littletheoretical point. The low point in the rockershould align closely with it allowing you toaffect the kayaks trim forwards andbackwards, the wide point in the plan shapeshould also relate to it allowing you to controldirection more easily with body and headrotation, and the volume distribution shouldbe linked to it in a way which allows the kayakto sit trim in the water.

Get the centre of effort wrong and the bestdesign in the world won’t paddle properly,which is why I say it’s such an importantconsideration.

Any design aspect of a Tootegakayak that you would consider to bethe signature idea?Every kayak model we design is truly uniqueand always started on a blank piece of paperso it’s hard to pick a specific ‘signature’feature – perhaps this is our signature idea initself?

Finally, if you wish to tell us, what’sin store for the future?The future’s exciting! We’re working on somenew construction techniques that blendelements of aerospace composites with themost durable of external surface materials –hopefully this will open up exciting newdesign possibilities, and not just in sit-on-tops…

The sit-on-top market itself is evolving. Sit-on-kayaks are fast becoming a third genre inour sport alongside traditional canoes andkayaks. It is no longer enough to offer poorlydesigned, cheaply made product, and just sellon price alone. Customers expect more…More specific designs, more connectivity withtheir kayak, more durable build quality, morechoice of construction techniques.

Over the next few years you will see morespecialist models entering our range, and notjust in polyethylene plastic.

Thanks Steve for your time and allthe best of luck for the future…

Your newest model the Kinetic 100,what is it about this boat thatexcites you so much?The Kinetic is the result of direct feedbackfrom customers at demo days across the UKand Europe over the past few years.

Many really need a longer, more touringinspired kayak for the type of paddling theywish to do, but are understandably hesitantabout the size and weight, especially if it’stheir first kayak purchase.

So the aim with the Kinetic was to create acompact and versatile all-rounder. Somethingin which they could truly try a little bit ofeverything, whilst still maximizing speed andefficiency for those flat water paddles.

It has loads of exciting new features, includinga fully adjustable skeg system, all of which aredesigned to make it the most versatile 10ft(3.1m) sit-on-top on the market today!

Designing kayaks or paddling kayaks– if you could only do one – whichone?Impossible to answer – designing thingspeople love and seeing their enjoyment is apretty massive rush, but you can’t do thatproperly without paddling…

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