Frequently asked questions

Vortex Kayaks

Vortex  = 100% canoe polo!  Nothing else !! 

DD-Sports

is the parent company of Double Dutch paddles, Supr-paddles, Vortex kayaks. 
The company is is based in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. We have our own production facilty in the Netherlands where we create, develop and innovate . To increase production of our products we have established a cooperation with NELO in Portugal. Nelo is the world leading company for production of racing kayaks, sea kayaks, surfski, rowing boats and much more.  We are happy to have established a close relationship with this great company over the last 3 years!  We are looking forward to developing more products together in the near future !!

Why are VORTEX kayaks and paddles lower priced compared to most other brand?             September 2023

The answer is simple,...    for you!! 
We understand that buying a boat or paddles is a big investment.  Unfortunatly 2,5 years of Covid, and now the War in Ukraine has caused a big increase in material cost. We notised that most other kayak and paddle companies increased their prices drastically over the last 2 years. In our opinion often more than what is realistic.
We also had to increase our prices, but didn't go as high !

How can we do that? 
We decided to only change our prices based just on increased material cost, not on labour and overhead cost.  for us this actually means our margin per product decreased.  Why we can accept that is that we expect to sell more products in the next years which gives our company enough margin to work with.
The more we sell, the lower we can keep our prices !

Our prices are lower, but our quality is higher !
If you think, lower price = lower quality you are mistaking!   
Our production methods are similar to what is used in automotive and airplane industiry,  the material we use are the best available on the market.

Discount & special offers

Discount & special offers are always based on our MRSP and cannot be combined.

• Discount offered on this website is based on our MSRP Manufacturer's suggested retail price
  
  
• Discount offered online on our social media channels are always based on our MSRP prices mentioned on this website and cannot be combined.
  
  
• Discount vouchers can be used in our webshop / this website. Discount is always based on our MSRP prices mentioned on this website and cannot be combined.
  - It might be that the online-calcualted price after using a voucher is different from the actual price ( we offered/agreed ) you have to pay for the product.  For that reason orders placed with the use of a voucher will have to be checked and approved by us before payment.  Buyer will receive a confirmation after checking.
  
  
• * Bulk orders  ( 2 or more )  Bulk order offers are always based on our MSRP prices and cannot be combined with other discounts or special ( individually made ) offers.  Bulk orders are always made on clear carbon colored kayaks.  We offer a reduced discount on colored kayaks.  Additional charge on top of the offered price will be € 100 per kayak.   In case an offer is made for kayaks with colored decks the is only valid if clearly mentioned on the price quotation offer received from us.
  
  
• CRAZY-OFF-10 If you have received this voucher reed this info:  Only valid for customers who bought a product recently in the period between (1-12-23 and 1-02-24 )  Valid until 1-5-2024.  Not in combination with other offers / discount. Contact us before ordering / using this voucher.  

For more information about discounts and special offer you can contact our office. 
No rights can be claimed from the information mentioned on this website.
DDS has the right to refuse / cancel indiviudally made ( promotional ) offers.

Warranty

DDS / VORTEX  give a, by European law obligated, 2 year warranty on damage due to manufacturing failures.
Wrong assambly, wrong use ( abuse ) of the product is always exclued for warranty. 

Our products and warranty
We make our products to withstand bigger forces than needed to play kayak polo. However, this does not mean that what we make is indistructable under all sircumstances.

Due to the rough & tough nature of the game of kayak polo, breaking a blade, shaft, boat, or any other of the products we make can always happen.  

Impact after impact on a blade, shaft or boat can envetually create a weak spot on the product.  This weak spot might then suddenly break, even if at that moment  it feals for the user of the product that the force that caused the damage was not very much.  This reason of damage is exclueded for warranty. 

Kayaks with clear carbon deck and hull have a full warranty on chipping off of the gelcoat.  Kayaks with colored decks have a limited warranty on the colored deck gelcoat. This is for the reason that colored gelcoat is more fragile than clear color gelcoat. 

Explanation about damages:
Our products are made under very consistent conditions. This produces a very constistent quality and reduces the change of manufacturing failures.  
In case a product has a manufacturing failure usually this appears within a few times use and not after a few months or longer. In the rare case there is a fault, a weak spot in a blade, shaft or boat it will not last long becasue of the big forces it get's to widthstand. 

If a products has been used for a more than a few months the chance of a damage being a manufacturing failure is practically zero. We like to mention this because our experience has proven this fact and we would like to avoid our buyers to make unnessasairy expenses to send the product to us for inspection. 

• In case you would like to claim a warranty you need to contact us by email with the following information:

1. Date of purchase
2. Product serial number
3. Pictures of damage/breakage
4. Explanation under what circumstance damage appeared

After we received the requested information we will inform you of our judgment.  In certain cases it might be necessary for us to receive the product for inspection and final judgment.  

In case we judge the damage within the first six months after purchase as a manufacturing failure, we will replace or repair the product *free of charge and return to buyer cost will be covered by us (DDS/vortex) in full.

Claims we receive between 6 and 24 months after purchase date will be repaired en not replaced. Depending on the cause of damage, repair cost can be charged to buyer.  In case manufacturing failure is abosultely proven and accepted by us repair will be free of charge.

* We must have received all requested information before we start a warranty procedure.
Cost for shipping of paddle to us is for buyer, cost of return shipping of the paddle to buyer will be paid by DDS / Vortex in full or partly depending on the result of inspection and reason of damage.

EXCLUDED at all time are Damage caused by incorrect use, abuse or any other damage occurred in any other way than what the product is made for will not be accepted for warranty. Paddling on white water, in competitions increases the risk of damage due to excessive forces to the product.

Our paddles are made for specific use, and to last and withstand the (water) forces they are meant and made for.  White water & slalom paddles hitting rocks, river bottoms with extreme forces as well as polo paddles in hitting another paddle or a kayak with excessive hard forces are in all cases excluded for warranty. This is considered a personal risk for buyer and is a risk of the game which producer cannot be healt responsible for.  

Our paddles are made with extreme care and quality is always checked during production and before sold to our dealers and customers. Warranty is only valid in case a production/manufacturing failure is proven.

Furthter legal explanation about warranty you can find in our trade terms which you can request for at your local dealer or directly from us.

Clubs & teams

We offer a CLUB support program and CLUB discount system.

CLUB SUPPORT program
Ort club support program is to help a club in many diffent ways.   We can advise you what the best products would be to use for your club.
If your club organises events / tournaments we might be interested to offer a sponsorship. This can be prices for winning teams, offering a financial support in return for advertisement and/or coming with a stand to the event to show our products, and offer special discount to club members during the event. 
If you have a good idea of how we could support your club we would like to hear.   ( should be a fair and realsitic idea / request ) 

CLUB DISCOUNT system
Clubs & teams can request for our special pricelist with additional discount. The request must be made by someone of the club management.
We offer discount based on quantity and order amount.  For boats, paddles, and gear. We would like to make things easier and clear about how we work with clubs. 
In general the below mentioned discounts are what a club can count on when they order from us.  Orders must be placed directly with us.  

To place an order or ask for a quotation from us you contact us by flliing out the CLUB-QUOTATION request form. 
After receiving your request we will answer quickly with an official quotation including the applicable discount.  Discount is always based on our Msrp and not in combination with other offers / discounts.  Clubs will be invoiced including 21% Dutch VAT. In case a club has an international valid VAT / TAX / TVA / IVA / MwSt number we can in most cases invoice excluding VAT.  

Minimum order amount to receive a CLUB discount is € 1000 for paddles & gear and € 5000 for boats   /     € 20.000 + orders on request. 

Paddles      15% 
Gear            15% 
Kayaks       12% 

CLICK ON THIS LINK to request more information about our club offers & discount  >>    Club offer request (dd-sports.com

Riders

Do you think you fit in our rider/ambassador team?   Thats cool, Let us know why you should be in!  We will let you know within a few days if you're IN. or not ( yet ).

 CLICK ON THIS LINK to request more information about our club offers & discount  >>    Become rider ambassador of DD-Sports

If you can be a team rider, or get an ambassador status depends on many different things.
Are you in the National team, competing internationally. At what level you compete, in what country you live.  What you can do for us in return of a rider/ambassador deal.
Our goal is i to have a few RIDERS & AMBASSADORS in each country in the world. 
The deal we offer really depends on your personal and individual situation.  All deals / discounts offered are always based on/from our suggested retail price.

Become a dealer

Are you the owner of a canoe / kayaks shop and are you interested to sell our products?
Thats's great news!  We need to receive your details and a prediction of your sales.
Afer receiving your info we will contact you to speak about the possiblities for you.

  Get in touch | Contact us (dd-sports.com) 

HI POLO FANATIC

2023
We took the quality of our products to a next level.  Our boats now have "impact zone reinforcement" 
This is extra reinforcement is placed on area's where the boat get most impact and hits.  

VX1 polo kayak 
We are in our 3^rd year with since we came back on the market with our polo kayaks.  A lot has changed since the beginning!  
For the production of our polo kayaks we have a worldwide exclusivety cooperation with Nelo in Portugal.  Due to this deal we could share all our experience to achieve mutual goal which was,  to make the best polo boat ever made.  Our 35 years of experiance together with Nelo's over 40 years experiance has eventually resulted in the VX1 as it is now.
In our opinion this is the best quality boat on the market. 

The first VX1 pro-carbon boats were vacuum bag, one-piece hand layup made. The quality was good, but not consistent.  So some boats we awesome,  and others just good.  Our ultimate goal was to make the best quality boat on the market.  During 2019 we adjusted the material layup several times. This made the boats better but still not how we wanted them to be.

The big change in quality came when we completely changed the production method in summer 2020. No more hand laminating but seamless-infusion which is a technology also used in high-tech aerospace production. With infusion production is very consistent so each boat that comes out of the mould is the same quality. All boats we produce are now made by seamless-infusion-technology. 

The quality of infusion is better because:

• absolutely no air gets captured between the layers which makes it stronger.
• the ideal balance between fibres and resin is used in the laminate which reduces weight.
• the gelcoat is super tough and not brittle so is smooth even after years of hard use.
• In-mould cured at high temperature increase impact resistance of the laminate.

Less important, but a nice side effect is that the boats look fantastic. 

• perfect straight fibres on the outside layers.
• super bright and shiny gelcoat surface.
• nicer and smoother inside finish which gives more comfort.

So, the new SEAMLESS-INFUSION boats are totally different from the first boats we produced. It hard to say how much better they are now but the difference is just huge! 😊
If you were hesitant to order a VX1 because of the quality we understand that.  But you should give us, and yourself a 2^nd chance.  We guarantee you will not be disappointed in the quality!

The VX1 is available in PRO-CARBON  size XS, S, M, L € 2195*  and CLUB-CARBON XS, S, M.  € 1795*

Vortex paddles
Our paddle production has gone thru some small changes too.  The foam cores are now made with a better more accurate CNC machine. This results is little weight reduction with keeping the same quality.  

Innovation & Technology

Innovative designs & smart technology ensures that our products are of the highest standard on the market.  Back in the 80's we were the first company to produce paddles with a PVC foam core and use of pre-preg materials. Over the years we continuesly searched for better materials and new production methods. This evolved into the unique way we produce our paddles and kayaks now. Our focus is besides making high quality products on the inviroment.
We do that by recycling materials and reduce waste in our production.  In cooperation with a eminent developer Ralph dost we are testing and experimenting with Eco / Bio bases resins and fabrics. The result are positive, but not yet at a standard that we can take these materials to use in our products.  In the near future we expect to implement step by step more and more Bio based products in our paddles and kayaks.

Our paddles
are made by high temperature and pressure moulding technology.
The cores are CNC presision cut to the milimeter.  The resins and (carbon) fibers we use are of earospace quality.  We use high pressure and hight temperature to reach the optimal strenght and lowest weight.   We already do this for over 35 years ( double dutch paddles ). So you can trust our quality! 

Our kayaks
are now ALL made by one-piece-seamless-infusion. 1+1=3 For our poloboat production we have an exclusive partnership with Nelo in Portugal. 
Both our companies ( Nelo & Double Dutch / Vortex ) each have over 40 year of experience in design, development and production.  
After lots of testing, testing and more testing we now are convinced our boats are of the highest quality available on the market.  
The construction, material layup have been develop in cooperation with Manuel Ramos, owner of Nelo who after many years of testing finally found the perfect solution to make one-piece-infusion boats.  This is not only an advantage for the quality of the kayaks but also it reduces waste and is cleaner for workers, and environment. 
All boats have extra reninforced edges on the impact zones of the boat. For extra edge strength we've added a black KEVLAR outside seam.  

NEW 2021  Tougher gelcoat, stronger body,  longer lifetime!!

Service
Service is something which we find very important. If you have questions about our products, our company or any other question related to who we are and what we do you can always contact us.

Quality
You can expect from us to receive a great quslity product.
Our products are made to our highest quality standards and made to last LONGER THAN most other brands! 
However, Due to the nature of the game, and the way products for canoe polo are used, damage caused by using the product are excluded for warranty. 

Payment & Bank references

All payments should be done to the below mentioned account. Payment by credit card / Paypal can be additionally charged depending on the amount and type of product. We do not accept cheques.

Prices and information on this website
No right can be claimed fomr information and prices mentioned on this website. Price and specification can change without prior notice.
Of course we do all we can to avoid spec changes and wrong information! 

Delivery / Transport
Delivery costs will be charged on all orders.  We use standard ( POSTNL) delvery service which will usually take 3-14 days for delivery. (  we are not resposible for late deliveries )
Cost of  shipment depends on delivery location. Providing us with the correct delvery address/details is the responsiblty of buyer. 
- Cost for paddle delivery between € 15 and  45 per paddle. 
- Cost for kayak transport in EU between € 85 and € 135 per kayak.  ( real cost are higher, DDS contributes about 25-50% on each kayak shipment ) All other destinations on request.  Delivery of a kayak must be done to an address where during working hours somenone is avaialble to receive the parcel.  This is buyers responsibilty to provide us the correct details. In case delvery should be done to a different address from mentioned on the invoice this should be notified to us immedialty after receival of the invoice/delivery note. In case our courier cannot deliver at first attempt a surcharge of 35% ( of the actual transport cost ) will be charged to buyer in full.  

If you need your product quickly you can request EXPRESS delivery ( SEABOURNE / DHL ) .  Full cost will be charged to buyer in case we can provide this service.  

Damage insurance
Damage caused in shipment is at risk of buyer.
Insurance ( € 6.75 per paddle / € 35 per boat ) is included in all deliveries /traonsports arranged by DD-sports. We advise you to check the parcel upon arival for damages.   In order to make use of the Insurance it is obliged to check the parcel and products packed inside the parcel upon arival. In case of any damage it must be notified to the delivery serive( driver ) immediatly. Make pictures of the damages and notify us within 24 hours with an explanation of the damage and pitcutes of the damage. ( not applicable for our dealers )     If you received a damaged product please fill our our INSURANCE form.

Quick replacement service
We will make sure you receive replacement products as soon as possible. Before we can send you the replacements the damaged product(s) have been shipped back to us.

How we work? 
We sell our paddle thru a worldwide dealer-network. Because the world is big, and our network not fully covers all contintent and area’s we also sell direct to end users. If you live near a local dealer we strongly recommand to purchace a paddle from them. They can give you advise, and better service in case of any problem. If you don’t live near a shop that sells our paddles we are of course  more than happy to help you choose the right paddle. Paddles can be ordered in our STORE.

We do not accept orders placed via FACEBOOK, MESSENGER or any other social media.
Orders should be placed preferably  in our store,  or by e-mail. If you place your order by email please mention: your name, delivery address, Phone number, email address, the type, name size of the product(s) you would like to order.

Choose your paddle

We can help you choose the paddle of your needs. Most of our customers already know what paddle the need/want.  But we understand you might need help to figure out specific details of the paddles.  It’s easy, just ask us.

Production methods & materials

Production methods & materials Foam-core,  Semi-core & Fusion-concept 
We have 3 main production mehods we use to make our paddles. Foam core is used for our polo, slalom, dragon & rafting paddles. The core is PVC made in shape by CNC. Foam core paddles are mega stiff and strong. The bigger blade volume gives extra strength to the blades. Semi-core  is our own developed ( secret ) production method.  Our whitewater, sea, touring and sup paddles are made by this technique. The blades are lighter, super thin to cut easilly thru the water but also very strong compared to similar paddels from other paddle manufactures. Fusion-concept is a clasical way of making paddles also used by other paddle companies. We make a selection of our whitewater paddles with this technique.  What we do different is the materials we use, in conbination with the ultra high pressure. This make our fusion-concept paddles better.

Maintenance 
Our paddles are made of high-tech materials.  This assures the best performance and quality. However,  this does not mean the paddles are indestructable and restant to everything.  UV (sun) light is powerful and works on the materials. This decreases the lifetime and quality of the paddle. This negative effect is not so big on our SEMI-CORE and FUSION CONCEPT  paddles but has bigger effect on our FOAM-CORE paddles.  The FOAM-CORE is compressed in our production process to increase the strength. What happens if the paddle is out in extreme heat it that the foam will expand a few %. This will be visable on the blade surface. We advise you to keep your paddle away from extreme heat and direct sunlight if you are not on the water. Best is to store it in a dark place or a paddle protection bag.

How to assemble paddles (blades onto shaft)
We very strongly recommend the use of a 2 part epoxy glue for the assembly of all joints (blade to shaft, shaft centre connections, etc.).  ( ARALDIT. PATTEX,... ) 
In the case you use hot glue ( thermoplastic glue) for assembly then unfortunately we will not be able to offer any warranty for the damage on the blade/shaft join.
Using hot glue is risky. The chance of over heating the blade stub is big and will reduce the strength of the blade drastically. 
For this reason no warranty is given on blades that break within 5 cm of the blade shaft joint.   Also the risk of damaging the shaft is bigger. Plastic is flexible. This flex causes the blade to move inside the shaft. Even if you dont feel this, it moves with each stroke.  The more it moves, the bigger chance of breaking / splitting the shaft.   A shaft that splits in lenght direction is also excluded for warranty.  ( this is applicable if glued with hotglue and also if not correctly assambled and gleud with epoxy glue )

Instructions on how to assemble the blades together with shafts :  ( Use gloves when you work with an epoxy resin.)
- The ends of shafts and the interior of blade necks must be sanded with sandpaper ( grid 80 / 120 )
- Put the 2 pieces of black heat schrink over the shaft and the grey peices of foam inside the shaft about 8cm deep.
- Prepare the epoxy resin and mix well.
- Spread the epoxy resin on both surfaces of the shaft and the interior of the blade neck. 
- Put the blade on the shaft and twist with the blade so that the epoxy resin is spread uniformly on all cleaned surfaces of blade and shaft .
- Remove the excess epoxy resin
- Put the black peices of heat schrink over the blade-shaft join and careflully heat it up to get the heat schrink fit tight over the blade-shaft join.
- Keep the paddle in horizontal position for at least 4 hours until the epoxy resin is hardened. The resin is hard after 4 hours but you can paddle after 24 hours.

Sponsoring Riders & Ambassadors
We offer a sponsorship program for world class paddlers and upcoming talents.
Contact us if you think you fit in our RIDER & AMBASSADOR team.  The information we need from you is:
Name, age, address, Phone ( mobile) number, your kayak/Canoe dicipline, your motivation of why you fit in our team and of course your paddling CV with results & goals.
send your mail to: 

Clubs & teams
Canoe polo, rafting, dragon teams & clubs are able to receive a discount on our retail price for big orders. The discount depends on the the quantity, and type of paddles. In case there is a local dealer near your location the “deal”will be made with our local dealer. All requests should be made to

Competition paddles
Paddles used in whitewater, polo, slalom, rafting and other competitions (& training) get to withstand extreme ( sometimes excessive ) impact due to the rough nature of the game/sport. Our paddles are made according to our highest standard. We use a production systems which is extremely consistent. This creates a product with a very consistent and very high quality. Each product is quality checked after it is produced. Warranty is given if the product is not made according to our standard. This also means that damages like a break, a hole or any other damage caused due to incorrect use or assembly, contact with another paddle, kayak, a goal or any other extreme impact during a game or training is excluded for warranty. Normal wear of the product, damage due to excessive impact or incorrect use are in all cases excluded for warranty. Our advice is to check the product at the moment you buy it or if you bought it online immediately when you receive it. If you have any concern regarding the quality we advise you to contact the shop where you bought the product.

– Blades are tested on strength and quality before they leave our factory.
– Most damages are not caused due to manufacturing failures but to excessive impact.
– Polo & ww blades are made for a 26,5 mm internal diameter shaft so not for any other diameter shaft.
– If blades are fitted to another than an original doubledutch shaft the blade stub is in all cases excluded for warranty.

We try to make the paddles as light as possible with the perfect resin content.
We work  “as dry as possible”  and with a lot of pressure to make the lightest yet strongest blades. It sometimes happens that there are some little visual imperfections on the blade. This cannot be avoided in production and therefor has to be accepted if you purchase a competition paddle from us.  This does not effect the quality at all. It is absolutely only superficial and a visual matter.  Of course, if this viusual imperfection turns out to be a constructional problem we will fix the problem correctly.

Paddle delivery
Paddles will be delivered un-assembled. This is to avoid extremely high shipping cost.
Shipping companies calculate the cost for a parcel by the volume of the box, not by the actual weight.
A paddle in parts is up to 60%  smaller than a fully assembled paddle.
On request we can make a quote for shipping cost of a fully assembled paddle(s).

TAX FREE        - 21% off

If you live and order from outside the European Union ( EU ) it's possible to request partial TAX refund. 
There are legal rules to follow so we need to check it individually per request and location.

ONLY available for outside EU purchases 
In case goods have been invoiced to buyer including Dutch VAT, and have been officially exported outside EU by buyer, we can re-fund 21% VAT
 ( on products only. Not on shipping or other charges)

Due to the additional paperwork and documentation we need to charge 6% VAT-REFUND handling cost.  This means that in case the refund request is legal, and accepeted you will receive a refund of 15%. 

In case extra cost have to be made by DDS/VORTEX this will be charged to buyer. Local import duties and all other unexpeted costs have to be paid for by buyer. 

To request for tax refund:

• goods must have been invoiced to buyer including 21% VAT.
• goods have have been shipped directly and officially by a courier/transport company to outside EU.
• or goods have been invoiced incl 21% VAT to buyer outside EU,  delivered to buyer in EU ( for example at an event ) 
  Buyer transported the goods to the country which the product has been invoiced to and declares it at customs at the correct / EX VAT price.
  After this is done buyer sends official declaration documents and the invoice with official stamp from customs to DDS/VORTEX
• After we've received the proof of EXPORT from buyer we will refund the 21% VAT -  6% cost = 15%
  
  

The resaon it's little complicated is that in case we, DDS/VORTEX,  cannot proof to our Dutch authorities that goods have left the EU we get charged to pay the 21% VAT.

Bank charges

 NON-EU / all PAYPAL payments

Bank charges s an amount the banks involved, ( the paying and receiving banks ) charge to handle non EU / non-IBAN payments.
This amount they deduct from the amount buyer transfers.  Bank charges are a fixed amount of € 25 per transfer.

In case buyer pays from a EU bank,  or by an e-bank like WISE / REVOLT usually we receive the correct amount, In that case of course we do not need to charge bank charges.  However, we never know upfront who pays what way.  

The other option is to pay by CC / PAYPAL.  They charge 6% of the total invoice amount to handle the payment.  On a small amount that’s cheaper,  but on a big amount it costs more.

EU PAYMENT using IBAN

In case payment is done by bank transfer using IBAN no extra cost will be charged.  

 For EU payments we advide to use this payment method. 

Disclaimer

We do our best to keep the infmormation updated at all time. 
This counts for specs, prices and all other information mentioned on this website.
We do keep the right to change specs and prices at all time without prior notise.

In case a product spec or price is incorrect buyer has the right to cancel the order before shipment is made.  After payment is made this means buyer accepeted the specs and price and order cannot be canceled.  In case of cancellation after payment is made, but before shipment 10% of the ordered amount will be charged to buyer. 

NO RIGHTS CAN BE CLAIMED from the information mentioned on this website.