Book (English)

"A Winning Story" is a book written by journalist Palle H. Brændsgaard, about our company (Struer Kajak).

Price: 19 EUR
Please contact us by mail to get an offer including freight / delivery to your country: mail@struerkajak.com

Preface by:

• Allan Thomson (Olympic Gold: 1984)
• Antonio Rossi (Olympic Gold: 1996 & 2000)
• Knut Holmann (Olympic Gold: 1996 & 2000)
• Clint Robinson (Olympic Gold: 1992)

From the book:
The smiles were those of indulgence. The reactions were those of disbelief. The words were rather comforting than encouraging.
”You can always come back here if things doesn’t work out,” Gerhard Sørensen and Svend Helge Kobberup were told, as they left Bang & Olufsen for the last time.
They didn’t just leave a good, permanent job - they left Struer’s leading company B&O. They were cabinetmakers, born in Struer, grew up together and trained alongside each other at the local carpentry. But now they wanted to build kayaks.
“People looked at us like we were mad, and our wives, they too weren’t enthusiastic about our experiment. They had to earn a living by taking on extra work at the waffle bakery and B&O,” Gerhard Sørensen would many years later tell a locale magazine.
It wasn’t just the surroundings that, understandably, did not dare believe in the two friends’ dreams. They hardly did so themselves.
“We did not expect anything. If only we could have a tolerable livelihood, we were satisfied,” Svend Helge Kobberup stated.

The two friends – and now partners – had for several years, whilst working at Bang & Olufsen, where they installed radios in cabinets, used their spare time on their hobby in Kobberup’s kitchen. The very first kayak was built in 1933, during their apprentice time at
N.P. Lundøre, in the attic of the carpentry. Subsequently, they started building small kayak models in Kobberup’s kitchen.
It was nothing but a hobby back then. Something they felt passionate about and for their own use. Besides, what did they know about building a kayak? They were cabinetmakers. Both were just interested in the sport like so many others, but they possessed a special talent, it would turn out: They had the ability to wonder and be curious. However, that did not mean, they couldn’t fail in the early beginnings.

Price: 19 EUR
Please contact us by mail to get an offer including freight / delivery to your country: mail@struerkajak.com