Emotion Kayaks paddling on stream of success

From the moment Tom Strauss hustles across the room and greets the visitor to his company's headquarters in Reading with rapid-fire introductions of employees and a flurry of questions - "How was your trip? Can I get you some coffee? Water? Where would you like to sit?" - one wonders incredulously:

This guy specializes in the lazy enjoyment of slow-moving streams, lakes, and ponds?

Right behind that comes a second thought: No way!

But indeed he does, in a manner as outsize as his personality, with sales of his Emotion Kayaks doubling each year since Strauss set sail on this entrepreneurial endeavor in 2002.

Along the way, his company of eight employees and seven independent sales representatives has been garnering high praise in U.S. and international paddling circles, including as a sponsor of this region's annual Schuylkill Sojourn, and persuading discerning retailers such as Cabela's, Dick's, and REI to carry Emotion's ever-growing line.

Last year came the industry's equivalent of Motor Trend's Car of the Year weighty endorsement: Outside magazine, with a subscriber list exceeding 686,000, bestowed its coveted "Gear of the Year" award on Emotion Kayaks' 8-foot-3-inch Comet.

All that from the unrelenting efforts of a 5-foot-9-inch businessman who, truth be told, prefers the more hair-raising sport of downhill skiing to boating.

"I love speed!" was his unapologetic explanation as he sat in an office surrounded by framed, poster-size pictures of him flying down snow-slicked slopes in Colorado, Utah, and Oregon.

What he loves even more is his wife of 25 years, Diane, and their four children. Family, it turns out, was a key motivating factor in the former self-described ski bum's selling a successful ski shop in 1997 and, after a few years of consulting work and a sidelining tangle with cancer, devoting himself to the business of making kayaks.

But not just any kayaks. Kayaks that an average family can afford so that boating on the Delaware, Lake Nockamixon, or Brandywine Creek is a realistic recreational option for mom, dad, and the kids.

When Strauss, 53, started researching the industry in 2000, he identified three major deficiencies: Boats were prohibitively expensive, manufacturers were not "getting the right boat in the right place at the right time," and "no one was focusing on family-fun kayaking," even though interest seemed to be shifting from the more extreme whitewater kayaking to recreational.

There was also a fair amount of consolidation in the industry, leaving "unhappy customers looking for better suppliers," said Tom Martell. He heard that from Strauss when Strauss met with him about 10 years ago to try to persuade him to become an angel investor in his kayaking start-up. Strauss figured he needed about $1.5 million to launch the business.

At the time, Martell had just sold to Tyco his Reading-based Hub Fabricating Co., which made those ubiquitous metal boxes on street corners and telephone poles that house telephone wiring and other gadgetry.

Contacted at his winter home in the Florida Keys last week, Martell said he knew nothing about the kayaking industry at the time, but was sold on Strauss' presentation, enthusiasm, and prior success in business - and a hunch the venture "would be fun." The outcome has been "even better than I expected," Martell said. "I probably put in a little more money than I anticipated [he wouldn't say how much], but it's all paid back."

Emotion Kayaks, named after Strauss' most obvious characteristic, has grown from a company producing four models of boats to one now offering 17 types (and counting) for sale at more than 1,100 retailers and distributed in 23 countries. In big-box stores, its boats are known under the Coleman name, as a result of a licensing agreement between Emotion and the company synonymous with outdoor gear.

Strauss would not reveal his company's annual sales, but said Emotion Kayaks was "debt-free three, four years and very profitable."

There is something beyond diligent sales representatives, attentive customer service, and the hiring of acclaimed kayak designer Jim Snyder, a Pennsylvania native now living in West Virginia, that is responsible for that. But that's where the talkative Strauss goes mum.

All he will say is it has to do with a manufacturing technique Emotion started using three years ago involving high-density plastic that allows for greater production output - at facilities in New York, Michigan, and Wisconsin, as Emotion has outgrown its original Pennsylvania factory - at a price that enables the cost of boats to be affordable to the average family. A $279 Emotion boat would cost $399 if made by manufacturers not using the technique behind Emotion's success, Strauss said.

As for the Great Recession's impact on business?

"Growth, growth, growth," Strauss said. "We've just gone up and up."

Wade Blackwood, a Wynnewood resident and executive director of the American Canoe Association, a nonprofit paddle-sports membership organization, said the rough economic climate has prompted many families to spend time on local waterways rather than opt for more expensive vacation options such as the Caribbean.

A recent report by the Outdoor Industry Foundation estimated 40.5 million people paddled a canoe, kayak, or raft in 2009. Blackwood said that figure was based on new boat sales only and did not take into account the secondary market - which he contended was just as large.

As Strauss presses on with new kayak designs to serve that market, he also is indulging his never-sit-still nature. He's exploring the possibility of applying his manufacturing process to winter recreational equipment, such as sleds and snowboards.

"I love building the fort," he said. "But once the fort is built, I want to build something else."

And then he bolted from his office for an 8.5-mile lunchtime ride on his mountain bike.