First off, I'd be stepping over something major if I didn't report back to you on the fact that there were noticeably less companies attending OR this year. Apparently, it's been a tough year in the industry and some big companies (Werner, Johnson Outdoors and PeakUK) opted out. Add to the equation that OR takes place during peak season for a lot of outfitters/companies. Attendance was down; we'll leave it at that.

BoaterTalk did get a chance to talk with a bunch of the designers and manufacturers that were there. Here's a review of what's new, updated and coming soon to a dealer near you.

The Stohlquist Rocker and Descent PFDs

Jim Stohlquist, the founder and president of Stohlquist Waterware gave us the deluxe tour of some really nice looking PFDs. The newest line has pre-molded foam which, as you go up in altitude, expands. This new vest is apparently way easier to put on at altitude because you don't have to fight stiff foam while strapping in to the vest. The Rocker is their newest standard vest and the Descent is their rescue vest. A cool new feature on the Descent was some added attention to the rescue tether to keep it out of the way while paddling and some tweaks in design for easier accessibility. The Descent also had a great attachable rescue rope and an additional buoyancy bladder. Great design work Jim!!

Predator Helmets

We were really impressed by the newer, more flexible and easier to use outfitting on the coming line of Predator Helmets. Johnny, the awesome engineer manning the Predator booth at the show, took some time to explain some of these awesome new details. Predator will also be offering a really clean and comfortable full face helmet in the coming year. I was very impressed with all the subtle tweaks made on their already solid helmets. Thanks for the tour Johnny.

The Salamander Rapid Fire

Shane Preston, president of Salamander Paddle Gear and all-around approachable nice guy, is updating his line of throw bags with the new Rapid Fire. It comes with 70' of polypro or 50' of spectra core rope. The bag easily detaches from your waist belt for faster and easier throwing. A really unique addition to the Salamander line of boating goods was the Back-yak (see photo). This strap-on backpack setup looked ideal for longer carries over portages or to and from your favorite runs.

The Level 6 Poseidon Dry Suit

Level6 owner Tyler Lawlor, showed off their new Poseidon dry suit, which is pretty much the same as their popular Barrier Drysuit, but they've added some new color options.

WRSI First Descents and Camouflage Helmets

WRSI Director Nick Turner showed off a couple of smaller helmet lines. The first was a limited edition First Descents collection. A portion of the sale of this line will go towards First Descents, Brad Ludden's nonprofit that takes cancer patients and survivors on white-water trips. WRSI is also offering a line of camouflage helmets for a limited run of 100 of each color and style. They have also designed a new add-on face guard, previously only available for men's helmets, for smaller, women's and youth models.

Wave Sport Roto-Molded Boat Graphics for the Fuse 56

Wave Sport sponsored a competition for graphic designers to come up with some pretty darn cool designs that can be roto-molded on to the Fuse 56. They are now able to rotomold designs into theirs kayaks. They had the winners of the context on display at OR.

AT Paddles AT2 SuperLight

Finally, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention this year's upgrade to the classic AT Paddles AT2, which I consider the best paddle ever made. This year's version, the AT2 SuperLight is still super cool, super durable, super flexible and now super light. Admittedly, I'm a bit biased.

There were plenty more new products to see and review at this year's OR, so sorry if I missed your booth. Thanks for those folks who did make it to OR this year and took the time out to chat with BoaterTalk.

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