Ruahine Kayaks was formed in the 1960's as a supplier of canvas kayaks to the growing numbers of New Zealands recreational kayaking enthusiasts.

As recreational kayaking evolved to include racing throughout the 1970's, Ruahine Kayaks continued to push the envelope in design. Refining canvas constructions to lighten and improve kayak speed.

With the advent of the 1980's, kayaking in New Zealand was given an international spotlight with the olympic success of Ferguson and MacDonald. Which in turn caused a resurgence in all forms of kayaking throughout New Zealand. It was at this time that Ruahine Kayaks began developing new kayaks in fibreglass. The use of fibreglass enabled Ruahine Kayaks to once again push the design envelope. During this period, Ruahine Kayaks built and modified a recreational double into a ruddered and bulkheaded sea kayak and began constructing early model Down River Racers with a group of local mulitsporters.

In the 1990's Ruahine Kayaks challenged the traditional hull design to produce the "Destiny Multisport Kayak", producing more stability and speed in tricky river conditions. WIth some slight modifications the Destiny evolved into the "Intrigue".

As multisport grew in New Zealand, so did the demands of our clients for a kayak that would enhance their new skills. Consolidating client feedback with new design sets, Ruahine Kayaks produced the "Swallow", an intermediate paddler which quickly became a favourite step up from the "Intrigue".

In early 1998, Ruahine Kayaks partnered with Richard Karn from "Team New Zealand" to design a kayak for the experienced paddler. Leveraging off Richards's wealth of design experience and computer technology Ruahine Kayaks redefined the underwater principles for multisport kayaks to produce the "Opus".

Half way through 2000, Ruahine Kayaks was inspired by Steve Knowles of www.sportzhub.com to develop an Adventure Racing double suitalble for the Southern Traverse, etc. The design process produced the 7M long "Duet".

Early in 2001 paddlers were again asking Ruahine Kayaks to design a new "top of the line" elite kayak to complete the range from the Ruahine stable. At Ruahine Kayaks we called the project our Formula One design - very soon we were calling it F1 and the name stuck! Six months later, after all the drawings, calculations, graphs and other computer feedback, followed by the building of the 'plug' and then the mould, Ruahine Kayaks trialled the first prototype. The F1 kayak proved to be fast, stable and turned well.

Each kayak in the Ruahine Kayaks range is designed to complement a paddlers ever improving skills. Ruahine Kayaks ensures quality in design and the crafting of kayaks, by focusing all efforts into producing a limited number of models, which provide a natural progression in models for paddlers to evolve in the sport.

Ruahine Kayaks is committed to contributing and growing with the sport because it is our passion!
The characters and mindset that is multisport.
The outdoors and adventures we all enjoy together.