You love your folding kayak for its portability, performance capabilities and the freedom it gives you. It’s for those same reasons the British Royal Marines used folding kayaks for a top secret mission during the second world war.

On November 30, 1942, the HMS Tuna set sail in secrecy from Holy Loch in Scotland, just outside of Glasgow, for France’s Bay of Biscay. The port, located in the Gironde estuary, was a major destination for much of the supplies that supported the German war effort. As such, the port was heavily guarded and patrolled– and a prime target for the Allied forces.

The top secret mission was scheduled to begin on December 6, but bad, stormy weather and an aquatic minefield detained the naval submarine, delaying the mission a full day. By December 7, the HMS Tuna had reached the Gironde and surfaced roughly 10 miles from the mouth of the estuary.

On the deck of the naval submarine, five folding kayaks were assembled. By nightfall, 12 Marines would paddle the vessels all night, stopping only five minutes per every hour to rest. By the end of the raid, there would only be two survivors.

During the night, one of the five kayaks disappeared, most likely due to strong cross tides and cross winds. The remaining four kayaks suffered through five foot waves, until another of the kayaks was capsized and lost.

Despite their losses, the three remaining vessels carried on, their Marines paddling over 20 miles in five hours.  Upon reaching St. Vivien du Medoc, a town along the estuary, the three kayaks and their crew each took shelter during the day. One crew was captured, leaving only two folding kayaks and their crews to complete the mission.

During the second night, the remaining vessels paddled 22 miles in six hours. During the third, the kayaks covered 15 miles, and on the fourth night the boats covered nine miles.

On the eve of December 11, the Gironde was flat and calm. The sky was clear. The British Marines began placing limpet mines on the shipping vessels docked at the port late in the night on December 11 and finished while the sky was still dark on December 12. Though almost caught by German soldiers, the kayak’s camouflaging kept the marines from detection. After attaching as many limpet mines to enemy ships as possible, the two surviving marines escaped to a small town in France, where they hid for 18 days until escaping to Spain.

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill believed the mission shortened World War II by six months. Admiral Mountbatten, commander of Combined Operations, considered the raid the most courageous and imaginative of all carried out by members of the Combined Operations.

A fictionalized version of this story was told in the film The Cockleshell Heroes.

Despite blustery, chilly days and a few threatening clouds, the James Island County Park was bustling with men, women, children and four legged friends this past weekend at the East Coast Paddlesports & Outdoor Festival. Paddlers of all experience levels and ages took advantage of product demonstrations, a variety of classes and the opportunity to speak with kayaking legends.

Amongst the well-known kayakers present was Dubside, a world-class paddler who’s known as an expert roller and preserver of Greenland paddling and kayak rolling traditions. Always dressed head to toe in black, Dubside is able to perform a plethora of kayak rolls– some of which are extremely difficult and require extreme strength. Who better to teach paddlers of all ages and experience levels how to “roll with it” than Dubside? In addition to demonstrating various kayak rolling techniques, Dubside hosted several other seminars at the festival, including a how-to session on folding kayak assembly including Folbot’s Citibot model.

During the weekend’s festivities, several longtime Folbot fans shared their own personal stories and Folbot adventures with us. One of our favorite anecdotes was told to us by a man who decided to become an engineer because of what he read about Folbot in Popular Science as a teenager. Another shared his story of visiting our Charleston headquarters as a teenager, meeting Folbot’s founder, Jack Kissner, and purchasing his first Folbot at the age of 15 (when we still used wood in our designs).

In June of 2012, Davey du Plessis set out on an extraordinary mission: to be the first to make a solo expedition from the source of the Amazon River to where it empties into the Atlantic Ocean.

The proposed expedition would take the 24-year old self-described “wonderer” and adventurer over 1000 kilometers (just hiking and cycling) and roughly 5700 km paddling on the second largest river in the world. During his journey, Davey planned to gather data and perform research for the Adventurers and Scientists for Conservation Organization’s South American Wildlands & Biodiversity project.

Davey’s South American journey began last June with a 24-hour plane ride from South Africa to the bustling Peruvian metropolis of Lima. After landing, Davey spent the next three days planning in detail the remainder of his journey (and most likely recovering from jet lag).

From Lima, Davey boarded a bus for Arequipa. Upon his arrival, he biked 145 km to Chivay, the town closest to Mount Mismi and the source of the Amazon. After summiting Mount Mismi, which has an altitude of 1800 meters, Davey began to paddle the Amazon from a launch point of Kiteni, Peru.

For his journey, du Plessis selected Folbot’s Kodiak model for its portability and space to hold all of his gear. Davey had estimated he’d be traveling for 19 days and recognized that at certain points along the river he would have to walk through dense jungle. A traditional non-folding kayak would have been impossible to transport and an incompatible traveling companion.

Soon after launching, Davey was greeted by locals and local wildlife alike, including a giant sea otter and a capuchin monkey. Davey was also met by some of the Amazon’s toughest rapids. Undeterred, he continued on, committed to accomplishing the source to sea expedition.

Perhaps the sheer enormity of the Amazon is what has enticed explorers and adventurers to conquer the monster river since the 1500s. But, like the wild and powerful anacondas that inhabit its waters, the Amazon’s draw is not without its dangers…

Roughly a week into his journey, Davey was shot while paddling in his kayak. Despite the presence of bullets in his skull, spine, neck and arms, Davey survived after swimming to shore, running 5km and eventually being helped many hours after sustaining injury. Today, Davey has fully recovered from his injuries and resumed his “normal” adventurous lifestyle of hiking, biking, surfing and kayaking.

We strategized, kayaked, and learned a lot about each other – a surprising number of Folbot employees (and not the ones you’d expect) are former cheerleaders. Needless to say, we all had a lot of fun.

We assembled every model in our fleet and took them out on the water, giving everyone a taste of what each individual kayak has to offer.

Looking forward to next year’s trip already.

To see more pictures from the trip, please visit our Facebook page and look for the album “First Annual Folbot Retreat”

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.514258578620669.1073741827.100432720003259&type=3

Howard Davis, manager at the Appalachian Trail Museum in the Pine Grove Furnace State Park, in Gardners, PA has acquired a Folbot dating back to our earliest days in the 1930′s.

Turns out the Folbot belonged to Myron Avery, one of the two early founders of the Appalachian Trail. “The trail was completed in Maine in 1937 and we believe Avery padded the Folbot while working in that area.” We are thrilled to hear that “since the boat is in pristine condition it is [the museum's] intent to hang it from the high ceiling of the second floor level of the museum.” See pictures of the very kayak that Avery used while building the Appalachian Trail here.

We believe the kayak is a “Super” or  may have been called “The Sturdius” during that decade, but was the same boat.  It was made in Long Island before the company moved to Charleston is 1953. We understand that they used neoprene hull and cotton canvas deck during the time of its construction.

Thank you Howard Davis and Charlie Duane for the info and photos!

***Update: Thanks to one of our ambassadors who is very well versed in all things Folbot, including the company’s extensive history, we now know which model belonged to Myron Avery.

“That boat is a rather rare 2-seater Super Clipper … which morphed into the “Super” model after WWII. The folbots used in WWII by the U.S. forces — Navy, Marines — were the 2-seater Clipper model. The early 2-seaters from the 1930s were labelled the “Sports” model and had sharp cockpit fronts. The Super Clippers used the rounded fronts as did the early Supers. The standard Clipper retained a sharper cockpit front like the earlier 2-seater Sports model.

Aside from enjoying the sunny skies and crystal clear water, John was taking photos for the Bahamas National Trust.

You can see more amazing photos and learn more about the project at John’s website, http://jmpeltier.com/

Thanks for the photos and stories, John, and happy Folboting!

We are proud to have helped the Sandy relief efforts and our thoughts and prayers remain with the many victims that are rebuilding their lives, as well as the members of our Folbot family that experienced the storm and its aftermath.

While we could not physically be there to help, we were happy to hear that a former Folbot employee was part of the relief team that was distributing supplies in Long Island after Hurricane Sandy.

This photo was sent to us by one of our ambassadors in New Jersey who used his kayak to escape his house through the flood water. Again, we were so glad to hear that our products were of use to our customers in times when they needed it most.

Thank you to everyone for bidding and supporting the disaster relief efforts that are getting the families affected by Hurricane Sandy back on their feet.

“An 18 pounder (3.5 foot) ‘mullet’ fish caught off the Folbot (20lb line!)”

“

“Note the FOLBOT sticker also on the motor”

“Gliding silently through the waters of our mangrove swamps – birds, iguanas, snakes, fantastic fauna & flora”