Quick Note: The Passing of the Mad River Malecite. UPDATE 04/17/20 - it's gone!

Extra! Extra! READ ALL ABOUT IT!! April 14, 2020: The daring bandit duo - Peter and Pat - make off with the last Mad River Malecite!

The last Malecite (we had) has been sold!. I checked with the Mad River rep, and there are none in the warehouse. So I suspect, other than maybe a couple somewhere in some retailer’s inventory, they are all out in the wild.

ORIGINAL POST (October 25, 2019) :

I couldn’t let this event pass without a mention.  The last of Mad River Canoe’s iconic Malecite has been built.  

Confluence Outdoors, a conglomerate of outdoors sports brands that includes WIlderness Systems, Perception, Harmony, Mad River and other brands is moving production of the Mad River line to Swift Canoe starting in 2020.  As part of the change, the Malecite is being dropped from the offerings.

The Malecite was the first canoe designed and built by Jim Henry, co founder of Mad River, in 1971.  It became the flagship of the Mad River fleet and was highly praised as a beautiful, high performance canoe.  At 16’ 5”, with a shallow “V” and distinct chine, it’s great as both a tandem and solo.

I bought mine, the “Pure Bunny”, towards the end of my first season working at Newbury Kayak and Canoe.  It was my first canoe since the Boy Scouts, many (many) years ago, and more by luck than by plan ended up to be exactly the right boat for me.   I’ve been paddling four seasons now, along with Iain the Boat Dog, and still love it. 

“Pure Bunny” comes from the Mad River logo, known as the
”Contented Rabbit”, and a fascination for images of rabbits with attitude.

An icon is passing.  Wanted to make sure it didn’t pass unnoticed.  If you have any Malecite stories, share them in the comments below.

FYI: NK&C has one of the last free range Malecites in stock.

It’s a beautiful boat…

Iain the Boat Dog enjoying the Malecite

Paddling the Parker River by the shop…