Marsport Condor

Forgot to say anything about the boat!

The Marsport is a long standing classic of the DW, legend says it was created for the DW. It isn't the fastest knife edged sprint machine ever designed but it is a fantastic stable work horse that is capable of a respectable pace.

I first used the Condor for my second DW in 2006 (Junior Vets). At 26h 05m it reduced my DW time by 13h 08m from my 2004 DW. 2004 was senior doubles in a Kirton Mystére, to be fair to Kirton the Mystére isn't that far removed from the Condor except ours was in Land Rover class- it had been repaired so many times it was only 2kg lighter than a Land Rover Discovery (MkI Disco - 3500kg/ 3.5T). The Mystére served us well but I pray I'll never paddle a racing kayak that heavy again!

Richard and I tried out the Condor a couple of weeks ago on the Thames. We got in, we paddled, we portaged, we paddled some more, we did a difficult high portage, we paddled some more and we didn't get wet.


In order to satisfy my curiosity I wanted to try the Marsport Gamma. To me the Gamma is the most stable thin boat there is. It leaves the Vajda Sonics standing. Richard and I managed about 15 cm. This doesn't sound very good but to quantify it Richard had not paddled a kayak for over ten years and we didn't capsize until we tried paddling and considering we had never paddled anything before the Condor together I was happy. I was also happy that I now knew the Condor was the right boat for us.

The team name? Well when we have the champagne launch of our ship we'll put up pictures which will explain all.

Tom