The Stealth is a new, highly specialized, full-carbon freestyle kayak from venerable slalom boat manufacturer Vajda and World Championship medalist Peter Csonka.

Slovakian freestyle pro Peter Csonka, a gold medalist at the 2008 World Cup and junior silver medalist three years ago at the World Freestyle Championships, designed the Stealth in collaboration with Vajda specifically for freestyle competitions like the Worlds.

Csonka paddled an early version of the boat at the World Championships in Thun, a ‘secret weapon’ he hoped would give him the advantage over his competition. While Jackson’s plastic All Star proved to be the winning boat of that event, Csonka’s carbon creation showed the potential of composite kayaks and has since evolved into the Stealth.

According to Csonka’s spec sheet on Vajda’s website, the future of freestyle lies with composite materials and “costuming the boats”—cutting down or adding volume to create a custom fit based on an individual paddler’s size and weight. The Stealth is made of vacuum-formed carbon, a super-stiff, ultralight and strong material that can make for lightning-quick spins and flips, fast rides and nose-bleed aerials.

Composite freestyle boats aren’t new, witness Wave Sport’s limited run Project 54cX or Anthony Yap’s new Titan playboat (also debuted at the ’09 Worlds), but with over 20 years in the business of making composite boats, Vajda is ahead of the curve.

Watch the promotional video on YouTube here, and stay tuned to Rapid and Vajda for updates on availability of this new boat. For now, here’s the spec sheet:

Design

The boat was created specially for the future competitions like the Worlds at Plattling (Germany) or European Championships in Lienz (Austria).

• Cartwheels – the boat is very stable in vertical rotations.
• Loops – there is lot of volume situated around the kayaker so the boat pops very big.
• Sticks all moves easily (wave or hole).
• Fast – thank the materials and weight; it is 20% faster in every rotation, with less effor.t

Bow shape

• Designed for speed in surfing and for big pumps in the wave.
• Slightness facilitates all the hard moves like McNasty’s or Phoenix Monkeys.

Bottom

• Flat hull surface and incredible speed.
• Stiffness of the materials prevents vibration and drag.
• Awesome carving, with a softer profile in the back so tricks are easy to stick in waves or holes.

Stern shape

• Designed for easy landings in the wave.
• Well-distributed displacement makes the boat stable in every situation.

Technology

• Vacuum carbon technology
• Weighs just 7.6 kg (16.7 lbs)
• No screws so no water inside
• Ultralight and comfortable outfitting

Costuming

• There will be two sizes of the Stealth ( S-M , L-XL )
• Possibility of customizing the boat for the weight of the paddler (adding or cutting down the volume)
• Custom color designs possible

Price

• Price is 1,420 € ($2,000 CDN) for two-colour designs, custom colour designs extra




Photos courtesy Vajda Group