As the title of this blog suggests, I’m an Apple aficionado; particularly their mobile devices. I do stray into the OSX world from time to time here, but I like to think I keep my focus for the most part. Every once in a while my fascination with all things creative and clever overcomes me. This is a prime example of one of those times.
Living in Florida has afforded me a great deal of exposure to the outdoors. From my early childhood family outings and my time in the Boy Scouts I’ve enjoyed what the state has had to offer. Sometimes you don’t truly appreciate what you have until it’s no longer within reach; my career and the constant march of urbanization has taken many of the places I have fond memories of and what little time I have to visit the ones that still exist. Some of my best memories are of the yearly week-long camping trip the Scout troop would take every summer. They alternated from trips to the Blue Ridge Mountains for a 50+ mile hike to extended canoe and rafting trips down the Suwannee and Santa Fe rivers here in Florida. Those long boating trips were fantastic; for those of you that have never had the opportunity to go canoeing it is far more enjoyable that I could convey in words. The peacefulness and serenity of being away from civilization is synergistically magnified by the time spent on the water. I’ve been unable to do even a day trip in one of our many local bodies of water due to the lack of vessel (or a means to transport it); there aren’t many suitable canoes out there that can easily be transported by Mini Cooper, even the convertible version.
That is, until now. An unexpected marriage of two of my fascinations- clever technology and Kickstarter- made its way to my inbox. The Oru Kayak is an origami-inspired answer to those love boating but lack the ability to transport one (or the storage space to keep it). The undeployed craft looks like a large art portfolio or giant-sized messenger bag, complete with shoulder strap. According to the developers it can be unfolded, frame placed, and be water-ready in just five minutes. The 12 foot long craft looks amazing- just take a look at their product demo:
Not surprisingly, the campaign has shattered its finance goal with weeks to spare. According to the site the manufacturers are already accepting preorders (although Kickstarter backers will get free US shipping and a discounted price).
It makes me happy to see so many worthy ideas brought to market via Kickstarter that may not have made it to production otherwise- a triumph for both innovation and technology. While it may deviate far outside the realm of what I had envisioned when I started writing, creativity of this sort needs to be shared.
