Day 3 of ICAST presented me with the opportunity to cruise the show largely unencumbered of meetings. I swung by the showcase and eyed up the Skanu again. It is a poling canoe co-designed with legend Flip Pallot. It is comprised of high-tech carbon laminate and it weighs 50lbs with a retail price of $7000.  

My only appointment was Newport motors. These electric motors have been the talk of ICAST. The battery box shaped like a suitcase is legit and looks perfectly designed for kayaks. You can see it in the stern of the micro-skiff. 

Expect to see some of these in the shop soon. Their best seller is the NK18GPRO a 600W, and retails for $999. The next step up is the 3HP - NK300 which retails for $1199.

After the meeting looking at the full line -up of Newport motors, I was free to roam the show at my own pace. Roaming ICAST is a load of fun, in which you are guaranteed to run into friends and see some cool stuff. Here is a brief rundown of the things that caught my eye:

I stopped back to the Hobie eyewear booth to write and order for a sunglasses refill order. It gave me the chance to snap a pic of the Hobie electric bike and trailer with a Lynx on it. This would be quite the cool little shuttle rig. 

Later I visited the TurtleBox booth. I've heard a great deal of good about these little speakers and am thinking they'd make a good addition to the shop as well. 

Next was the Grunden apparel booth. These guys are killing it. They won multiple awards at ICAST and had the buffest mannikins I've ever seen. Their Tough Sun Masked Hoodie is a very good looking piece to keep you safe from the sun. 

I also stopped at the HUK booth to check out the latest there and revisit some favorites, like the Icon series. 

While on my ramblings, I ran into friend and Chief of Fisheries at Virginia Dept. of Wildlife Resources, Mike Bednarski. It was great to see him!

I also ran into HoodFishing on the show floor. He was shot four times earlier this year, but has made a comeback and was looking good. 

Near the back of the show I ran into one of our partners in e-comm, Locally. We had a great discussion over our analytics discussed ways to increase traffic to our website. 

I stopped by the Fly Shop over in the fly fishing section. It was a very cool set-up. Outside the shop was a women's Simms outfit that I sent a picture of to my wife. She thought it'd be a good river trip outfit. 

There was also a 300lb Drift boat from East Cape that is made of carbon as well. It looked sharp! 

One of the craziest things I saw, the Bajio sunglasses booth had a barbers chair and a tattoo chair in the booth. Told my wife I was next in line, and she called me three times immediately after. 

And last but not least, I ran into my friend Brendan Mark, the CEO of the media company Heliconia. They've got a host of great paddling shows that they produce, including a partnership with Bad Ash Outdoors for a pilot episode called Hook, Line and History. It was great seeing them!