For some years we’ve been worried about the middle, or the beginning, if you like. At the top end of whitewater, paddlers are pushing boundaries almost daily and kayak design has moved with them: more volume, more precision and increasingly radical shapes. But what about everyone else?

We believe there’s a growing disconnect between what we see at the top of the sport and the experience of someone starting out or simply wanting to become a better paddler. Visit almost any club and you’ll find people learning in designs that are 15 or even 20 years old. That’s testament to good design and the longevity of a plastic kayak, but it also means those paddlers aren’t always getting the benefits of everything we’ve learnt since.Our own GT series was part of the catalyst. We still sell it more than 15 years on because it’s easy to paddle, fits people well and lets them progress. We didn’t want to lose those qualities. We wanted to ask what that same idea could look like today.

So rather than starting with our elite whitewater team, we went to coaches, clubs, centres and the paddlers within them. What were they teaching? Where were people struggling? And, most importantly, what made them want to keep paddling?

The answer became the Aon: a modern river runner that could be someone’s first whitewater kayak, but not one they’d quickly outgrow. A boat that lets paddlers feel the water without being pushed around by it, learn to drive and manoeuvre around the river without nasty surprises, and experience the things that get us all hooked: a first boof, catching a great surf wave, making an eddy or spinning in a hole.

Getting that balance right was the challenge. Modern performance, without making the boat aggressive. Enough feedback to learn, without punishing mistakes. Short and manoeuvrable, but predictable. Easy to roll. Light enough to carry. And properly sized, because learning in a boat that actually fits makes a huge difference. We also wanted clubs and centres to be able to afford it, because that’s where so many paddlers get their first taste of whitewater.

Aon (pronounced ‘ain’ like in ‘rain’) means “one” in Irish. That seemed fitting. It’s our attempt to take what modern whitewater kayak design has taught us and put those benefits back into the hands of the people beginning their journey. In other words More river, more fun.