Gold Medalist Sues Over Kayak Mold

Here's a bummer having to do with the business side of the paddling world.

Two-time Olympic gold medalist kayaker Greg Barton, who co-owns kayak maker Epic Kayaks, is now embroiled in a law suit with a Chinese manufacturer that won't give back the molds Epic uses to fabricate its kayak hulls, according to China Sourcing News.

The dispute started back in 2005, when Charleston, S.C.-based Epic contracted with a Chinese company called Flying Eagle to have its boats manufactured at its factory in Fuyang, an industrial city south of Shanghai.

Flying Eagle, the article says, also built many of the rowing shells used by several national rowing teams at the Beijing Olympics.

But after working together initially, Epic decided to go with another manufacturer because of pricing and project management disagreements with Flying Eagle.

There was just one problem: its molds were still in Flying Eagle's factory, and the company couldn't produce any more boats without them.

Barton spent three months in China trying to negotiate for the molds' release, but Flying Eagle kept escalating its demands, the article says.

If Epic had agreed, the report says, it would have been potentially left on the hook for up to $1 million in penalties.

Epic decided to sue "rather than pay what it regards as ransom," the report says.

This is really sad. Besides the naming rights that go with a rapid's successful first descent, kayak molds are the closest thing to intellectual property that our sport has.

While the differences are subtle, a small tapering of an edge here, or flattening of the hull there can create huge differences when you paddle on the water.

Designers spend hundreds of hours testing and shaping the "plugs" that are then used to make the molds that ultimately give birth to kayaks. The process of developing a mold takes months and sometimes years, and can cost tens of thousands of dollars.

More than a decade ago, when I was writing for the Wall Street Journal, I was lucky enough to see kayak maker Dagger's facilities in Harriman, Tenn., with founder Joe Pulliam, who gave me a great tour of the shop.

I can remember to this day the pride and passion that he and his boat makers had then, and the protectiveness that was tied to each mold -- they were very much those guys' babies. And they were the designs that kept pushing boat hulls -- and the boundaries of the sport -- to their limits.

I can only imagine how Barton and the folks at Epic must be feeling these days, knowing their babies are sitting on some cold factory floor in China, without the love of a passionate designer to put them to good use.

From a more practical stand point, though, I'm sure they've got a lot of money tied up in them, too. Not being able to produce new boats right now, when the economy's in the shape it's in, can't be a good thing.

Let's hope for Epic's sake this thing gets worked out amicably, and soon, so that these babies can come home, or at least be put to good use at another facility.