Standup Zone Forum
General => Random => Topic started by: Ichabod Spoonbill on April 14, 2015, 08:08:23 PM
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You guys probably remember the buzz about the Corran Addison take-apart board about a year ago. There was a Kickstarter to get the molds done, and the whole project was supposed to be completed by July 2014.
It's still not. Corran delayed the project several times. Once for improvements on the model. Another time because he found a source for a better material for the boards. Another time because he didn't want to start manufacturing at the end of the year and then have to sit on a couple of hundred boards for a few months before the spring season. We all accommodated him, but the wait was getting frustrating.
The bad turn came when Corran sold his company Corran Sup to Kayak Distributing. While Corran obviously profited from this sale, he clearly did not negotiate with KD about the terms of the Kickstarter. We, the supporters of the Kickstarter, got squirrelly when we heard this news and Corran assured us that the new owners would take care of all of us and provide us with the boards like we had invested in in December 2013. Then KD said (these conversations are all on the Kickstarter) very clearly that while they would be manufacturing the Hydra, were not taking responsibility for fulfilling the Kickstarter and that the contract of sale clearly said so.
This puts the Kickstarter investors, including me, in a really crappy place. There are some lawsuits starting up, and I haven't attached myself to one yet, but I may. I'm very disappointed in Corran. I think he's being pretty sleazy. While there may be disagreements between him and KD, everybody invested in the board because they believed in Corran Addison. As well, Corran benefitted from the sale of his company, which includes the Hydra molds, but didn't make sure his investors got taken care of. His last update to the Kickstarter states that he's working on an agreement, but that was almost two weeks ago.
What do you guys think? Here's the link to the project. I'm not sure what to do. I thought Corran was a pretty reliable guy, but I'm not buying it anymore. He posts on Facebook new board designs and updates on his Dusi race, but nothing taking care of the people who believed in him.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1747259538/take-appart-paddleboard
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Not surprising at all - Corran used to run a kayaking company called Riot Kayaks, which he basically ran into the ground and then took off (according to industry insiders). Ironically, I believe a restructured Riot ended up purchasing one of his SUP companies!
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Since this was an asset sale, as opposed to a stock sale, the issue might be whether or not KD actually assumed this or any liability in the transaction.
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Military intelligence
Jumbo shrimp
Kickstarter investors ;D
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Not surprising at all - Corran used to run a kayaking company called Riot Kayaks, which he basically ran into the ground and then took off (according to industry insiders). Ironically, I believe a restructured Riot ended up purchasing one of his SUP companies!
And before that Savage kayaks. I have a number of friends that know Corran from way back. Sadly, I'm not surprised. Hope get comes through
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Too bad. I hadn't realized he was so unreliable. Well, his reputation is taking a nosedive, that's for sure. And he's still liable.
I was considering having him make me a custom innegra board for touring. No longer.
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Since I've never made a bad investment (google: webvan, freemarkets, barnes & noble...), Ich I'm curious what excited you about this concept? It seems it's only advantage over existing inflatable technology was for hi-performance surfing -- and you're not really a surfer, are you?
I'm surprised TallDude hasn't replied yet. He'd blame the kayak unions. :D
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Sorry Bra, I was on Island time. Too much poke, Ya.
Corran was my neighbor up to the end of March. I'd see him paddling here and there, but he never said anything about his business. I just noticed that he had moved out. Then I read some news about him moving to Canada, selling, and apparently leaving the business behind. I wasn't aware of his Kickstarter deal. He's a shaper and a good one, but he doesn't strike me as an entrepreneur .....
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Spook, I was attracted to the idea of having a board I could keep in my car without all the shlepping that I usually need to do. It meant I could make a mire spontaneous decision about paddling. My son is learning to paddle too, and he's on the small side, so a nine foot board would be good for him. I also liked the construction.
That said, I feel pretty foolish now.
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You're right that I don't do that much surfing. This is more of a puddle-paddler than a wave board.
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Reading Corran's last comment on the kickstarter pages, its sounds like he is trying at least. He could just move to Canada and never hear from him again.
I have had multiple emails to him about my Streetfighter board a year+ ago and he was always super timely with responses and gave me some great info. The company I bought board from in Colorado had some shipping issues, and boards where held up for a few weeks. Corran sent hoodies to company to give out to everyone who was waiting on a Streetfighter. I received hoodie a few weeks after board, and ironically am wearing it today. Corran did not have to do this, it was a shipping issue, but he went above and beyond to get us some swag. Thats pretty cool for someone who has been in industry for so long and given so much to the world of kayak, surf, and sup.
I have no connection to him other then a few emails and owning one of his boards, which by the way is a killer whitewater SUP, so only slightly biased. Rotomolded and bomb proof!
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Kickstarter creates an obligation that some "entrepreneurs" aren't equipped to fulfill. Moving from drawing board to production is a big step, and it's easy to spend the money before you complete the jump. It's a risk people take who support kickstarter projects that a lot of folks don't realize they are taking. Those risks are supposed to be spelled out in the product description, and they usually are, but who reads that crap?
The bottom line is that you aren't buying a product, you're supporting the attempt to bring a product to the market.
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No surprise, as just trying to get a quick demo out of those guys when they were in San Clemente was a joke. "No problem", "sure" and "we'll call you right back" was all I got.
Really baffled at the money my friends throw at Kickstarter; only to be disappointed with nothing or something that pales in comparison to what they were expecting.
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"The bottom line is that you aren't buying a product, you're supporting the attempt to bring a product to the market." +1
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Yes SJ, but in this case the product has actually come to market, just under new ownership. The question that should interest the Kickstarter investors is whether the Kickstarter liability transferred to the new owner? Corran says the liability did transfer...but, he also says that KD owes him money from the sale of the Company.
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The board's being made. The question is, who's paying for the Kickstarter boards?
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This is all pretty baffling and too bad. Corran is a great shaper to work with. From sitting down at his kitchen table and coming up with a custom design to hitting the water with it was a 4 week turn around for me. He pumped out a 7'7" by 27" that is by far the best board I have ever ridden. 12#s but also bullet proof. Thought about getting him to make me another one as a back up before he leaves for Canada. Great guy, great shaper, awesome surfer.
Dan
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Wow, I'm surprised and disappointed to hear, and read what I am about the situation. I've know Corran for several years now, and have always had great times when with him surfing or just hanging out him and his family on the beach. His personalization of boards for me has led me to some of the best boards I've ever surfed, and look forward to the one in production with another boardmaker that Corran also had input on with that shaper.
That said, I hope that he works his butt off to get all those who supported his Kickstarter program the "rewards" as promised, and in a timely manner (meaning, "NOW!")...and will speak to him about such if I happen to see him before he heads to parts north.
Wishing all the best to all of those involved....
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Well I think Corran is finally heading north. I saw his van with trailer all loaded up. I've talked to him about motorcycles in the past, and I know he's pretty into it. The new graphic on his van says something about a motor racing team. Looks like he's changing industries.
https://www.designcorse.com/news/Page-2.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9o4Iy47ey4
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That is what I have heard..
Back to Canada...
Quite a Character....
He will be missed around these parts...
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Oh...Canada?
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Eh?
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I corresponded with him over Facebook last week. He was nice enough, and I suggested that maybe he ought to just take care of his initial investors, negotiating this later with Kayak Distribution. That's when he said that he couldn't comment on this anymore on the advice of his lawyer.
Sigh…
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Say goodbye.
Motorcycle racing isn't how you make money, it's how you spend money. Especially racing a bike like an MV Agusta. I have one, they're beautiful, and I love mine, but it's not a developed racing bike even at an amateur level and won't be competitive against bikes that are unless someone drops a few million into development. And watching Corran's video I'd say he's a decent street rider, but a long, long way from the precision and control level of a serious racer. "All traffic laws were obeyed". Really. On Ortega? Na.
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You drop your knee to many times on Ortega Hwy, and you end up dead.
http://patch.com/california/lakeelsinore-wildomar/ortega-highway-one-of-californias-bloodiest
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All those roads headed east are fun for lunatics like me. I used to meet up with my bike nut friends in San Diego each year to go play in the twisties. Unfortunately they're all dead now. Not all from bikes, but mostly. More good luck than good management that I'm not. Oregon has lots of places to play too, but mostly I do it on race tracks these days. Most of us are going the same way and no one is texting or drunk.
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Since that other Kickstarter is up, there are a few updates to this one. The latest one by Corran is that he is suing Kayak Distribution and that he has no timeframe for a resolution. The second is that the Hydra board is going to be manufactured — it was recently shown.
http://www.rapidmedia.com/adventurekayak/categories/news/5917-first-look-corran-s-3-piece-hydra-sup.html
The other update, and this is really weird, is that Corran is now working for kayak Distribution, the very people he sold his company to and was suing! This isn't a rumor; it's an official press release:
https://kayakdistribution.com/kayak-distribution-acquires-corran-sup/
I have no idea where this is going to end. I just want my board.
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Not going to happen Ich. Corran seems talented, but... From having read his holier than thou pronouncements on Facebook I suspect he would dismiss your getting screwed as a product of your small-minded insistence on archaic commerce ethics.
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Not going to happen Ich. Corran seems talented, but... From having read his holier than thou pronouncements on Facebook I suspect he would dismiss your getting screwed as a product of your small-minded insistence on archaic commerce ethics.
I'm not sure I've ever seen anyone so full of themself,,,,goes to a bizarre level sometimes.
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Kick starter sounds like it's all too easy to walk away from financial obligation.
Bummer. I feel for those who have backed this and others. It is to easy to walk away from obligation... (Not my way of life at all)
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You're probably right, Bill. The more and more I hear about Corran, a man I used to respect, the more of a narcissist he seems.
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Well this finally got resolved, sort of.
The purchasing company of Corran's company, Kayak Distribution, is agreeing to give everybody their boards. Of course, me getting this board will mean I have to send said company $125 for shipping this board. This price seems like highway robbery, but there's not much else I can do. REI is selling it for about $60 more than the Kickstarter paying, which sucks too.
I told Corran that, now that this is over, he should do something for all the people who had faith in him. Pay the shipping or something like that. (This was initially included in the Kickstarter price.) Of course he balked, and balked for doing anything extra for the people getting their boards a year and a half late. I honestly didn't expect him to do anything, but I finally told Corran how disgusted I was in how he handled this whole thing. For someone who puts in a lot of effort to stoke his online reputation, he's pretty careless about ruining it. Honestly, a little extra effort on his part to make people happy would have gone a long way. Maybe I'm being too lah-lah and moralistic about the whole thing, but his lack of self-awareness as to how he created this whole situation in the first place is pretty pathetic.
Put CorranSUP and his new company Soul on my list of companies I avoid. At least my son will get a new board. He's hitting a growth spurt and that one I got him last year is a little small.
Anyway, sorry I haven't been around guys, BTW. School and other stuff just got ahold of me. I haven't even been on my board in about a month. I'm back now!
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hey icky--thought youd been paying the price for assigning too much homework!
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I'm sure you're right, east. I'm such an evil teacher it's hard to measure the levels of my depravity. All that reading, and writing, and homework! Bad karma is sure to catch up to me.
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my friend who teaches hs history here in nyc said he wished he'd become a math teacher. He teaches 4 classes of thirty, and assigns 10 page papers a few times a year, along with much other written work. He faces a punishing amount of reading that must be done carefully, and requires decent commentary. 1200 pp every paper assigned, all of which must be read on his "own" time!
i was less worried that you are evil, icky, more worried that you'd assigned so much work that you had no life beyond reading and grading.
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I can't imagine reading ten pages of highschooler drivel, much less 1200. I'd read the first three lines, then the last three, make sure the middle was in english and call it good.
D minus--conclusion disconnected from premise.
A plus. Nice use of the phrase "pop a cap in dat techer", though I respectfully submit that teacher has an a, and dat is not really a definite article.
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Well this finally got resolved, sort of.
The purchasing company of Corran's company, Kayak Distribution, is agreeing to give everybody their boards. Of course, me getting this board will mean I have to send said company $125 for shipping this board. This price seems like highway robbery, but there's not much else I can do. REI is selling it for about $60 more than the Kickstarter paying, which sucks too.
I told Corran that, now that this is over, he should do something for all the people who had faith in him. Pay the shipping or something like that. (This was initially included in the Kickstarter price.) Of course he balked, and balked for doing anything extra for the people getting their boards a year and a half late. I honestly didn't expect him to do anything, but I finally told Corran how disgusted I was in how he handled this whole thing. For someone who puts in a lot of effort to stoke his online reputation, he's pretty careless about ruining it. Honestly, a little extra effort on his part to make people happy would have gone a long way. Maybe I'm being too lah-lah and moralistic about the whole thing, but his lack of self-awareness as to how he created this whole situation in the first place is pretty pathetic.
Put CorranSUP and his new company Soul on my list of companies I avoid. At least my son will get a new board. He's hitting a growth spurt and that one I got him last year is a little small.
Anyway, sorry I haven't been around guys, BTW. School and other stuff just got ahold of me. I haven't even been on my board in about a month. I'm back now!
It's a shame it took so long for you to get this resolved, we launched a Kickstarter campaign a bit after this one and shipped our boards a year and a half ago.
I agree that Corran should do something to help out the backers that had faith in him but in his defense, the shipping for boards was not included in the backer prices, this is from the FAQ of the campaign, he estimates shipping charges of $50 per board.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1747259538/take-appart-paddleboard/description
FAQ:
Is shipping included for the rewards?
For the smaller rewards it is included, within the USA. For the paddles, and boards, the shipping is additional. Within the USA it's around $50 (based on quotes we have in November 2013 - but these can and do change). International it's most likely about double that.
Last updated: Fri, Nov 22 2013 11:41 AM HST
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Fair enough, blue, but the difference in the shipping is still pretty jarring.
Maybe I'm not in business for a reason, because I always feel a loyalty towards those that help me or stick their neck out for me. Just my nature. I tried to make the point with Corran, but he started arguing with me. I'm sure if I went back to the Kickstarter page, he's left some choice words to me, words that I'm not going to bother reading. Those online spats never end up well, something I've learned the hard way.
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Anyway, at least the thing's over. I've learned a few things, especially when situations don't go your way. You guys had some very intelligent things to say, which I appreciate.