Riding the wave of success – Small business close-up: Coeur d’Alene duo hoping to find market for simulated rapids

Keith Wallace thinks he can bring the best of whitewater kayaking to indoor pools. His general formula is 20,000 gallons of water plus two 50-horsepower pumps. Together, they create endless rapid-like conditions for kayakers. The sound of rushing water even drowns out the hum of the generators runnign the pumps.

Becky Kramer The Spokesman Review

Of course, an indoor pool doesn’t come with the scenery found along the middle fork of the Salmon River, the Lochsa or Hells Canyon. But it isn’t a bad place to test out a kayak for purchase, or to take a paddling lesson, said Wallace, co-owner of Hydro Environments Inc http://www.hydroenvironments.com/

"It will allow more people to explore the sport of kayaking," he said. "A lot of people don’t have the privilege of living in Idaho, or even close to a major river system."

Wallace and a partner, Kevin Bennett, launched Hydro Environments http://www.hydroenvironments.com/ last year with a bank loan and financial help from their parents. The two men, both 33, run the company out of a metal shed in Coeur d’Alene’s Hern Industrial Park. A portable, above-ground pool costs about $50,000. The partners just sold their first pump system to a sporting goods store near Atlanta that is building an in-ground pool. The Outdoor Store will open a 30,000-gallon kayaking pool in February.

"Most of the stores that sell a lot of kayaks are located on a river. Since we aren’t located on the water, we decided to bring the river to us," said Brent Troncalli, whose store carries more than 100 models of kayaks and canoes.

"We also do a lot of instruction here. Even though it doesn’t get that cold in Georgia, there are people who don’t want to be outdoors on the water in January."

Troncalli, who first noticed the kayaking pool at a trade show, is purchasing pumps, electrical equipment and consulting services from Hydro Environment. He thinks his boating store will be among the first in the nation to offer simulated rapids indoors.

The potential for the product is enormous, Wallace said. But Hydro Environment’s challenge as a startup company is to break through the daily cash flow and marketing issues that new companies face. Having a system in place at a store will help, he said. "This is big for us."

Wallace got the idea for an indoor kayaking pool when he worked for Wave Sport, a North Carolina manufacturer of whitewater kayaks. Bennett, a skateboarding pal from his youth in Coeur d’Alene, brought the technical experience to the venture.

"It looked really easy when we drew it out on a bar napkin, but neither of us had a background in hydrology," Wallace said.

But Bennett did have a two-year electrical engineering degree, and he had spent several years installing swimming pools for Pool World in Spokane.

Wave Sport financed the first $50,000 prototype, a traveling pool that made its debut at the San Francisco Boat Show in January 2002. It attracted the attention of San Francisco Chronicle outdoors columnist Tom Stienstra, who wrote: "It’s great for those who have never tried paddling, for those who are curious about the mercurial sensations the sport provides, as well as the experienced paddlers who want to test out different boats."

Though Wave Sport kept the first kayaking pool for its own use, Wallace and Bennett retained patenting rights.

An indoor whitewater pool could transform the kayaking industry the way indoor climbing walls transformed rock climbing, the partners think. Climbing walls took the elitism out of the sport, and gave more people a chance to try it.

The partners’ immediate goal, however, is to sell more systems. Most of Hydro Environment’s $250,000 in revenue this year came from consulting and demonstrations at outdoor shows. Wallace and Bennett are still trying to collect a rental fee from a show in Phoenix. Fortunately, Bennett’s dad is the company attorney.

Hydro Environments is already booking trade shows in Canada and England for next year. But until the company starts to turn a profit, the two men are working side jobs in a drywall business Bennett owns.

Wallace can’t wait to ditch the drywall work.

"It better take off," he said of Hydro Environments, "because hanging drywall really sucks."

http://www.spokesmanreview.com/news-story.asp?date=112803&ID=s1447160&cat=section.business