Michiel Compagner

As an avid outdoor person I am constantly looking for new ways to enjoy life outside. For me it started off with hiking in the mountains. My very first hike was in Indonesia, only for a few days but it got me hooked.
"Basically everything that could have gone wrong, went wrong. This experience gave me a great respect for nature and that it's not to be underestimated. Not long after Indonesia, I was hiking the Pacific Crest Trail, followed by many shorter hikes around Europe.

I live in the Netherlands, so I'd have to travel far in order to go deep into nature. What we do have is water, so a logical step was to explore nature by water, paddling in a kayak.
I enjoy long distance trips, so I set out to paddle from the North of The Netherlands to the south with a foldable kayak.

I work for an outdoor store where I manage the watersports department, meaning I have had the freedom to expand our boat selection and to test everything myself. I learned about TRAK in 2021, the great engineering, easy set up, and strong performance is what attracted me most. When we received our first TRAK 2.0 kayak, it was clear it was gonna be the flagship product of my watersports department.

I was still unfamiliar with what seakayaking really was, so I was not yet able to use the TRAK 2.0 to it's full potential.

In 2023 I enrolled in the TRAK Pilot Program by joining the DeCourcy Island expedition in Canada, right off Vancouver Island. Paddling with other TRAK Pilots and other TRAK owners was an amazing experience where I learned all the basic skills needed to go on a sea expedition and increased my own comfort in the boat significantly!

It's safe to say I can call myself a seakayaker now and can't wait to plan future trips. I'm set to share all knowledge and skills with aspiring seakayakers and TRAK owners - come by OutdoorXL in Barendrecht, Holland for a test paddle!"