ELIO Kayaks was born in 1979 from a great passion for canoeing competition.
We started the production of competition kayaks with the goal of creating conditions for the athletes to have effective equipment at low prices.
In this beginning, the sales were mainly to Portugal and Galicia (Spain). With the development of quality, technology and design, appears the first exports, a decade later, in 1989, first to Denmark, followed by many other European countries.

The compromise between quality and price is, moreover, the company's philosophy for over three decades of existence.

ELIO Kayaks currently exports to the five continents and has offices in 25 countries: Spain, Poland, Hungary, Scotland, Switzerland, France, Belgium, Britain, Canada, Denmark, Norway, Germany, Ireland, Sweden, Greece, Australia, Italy, USA, Cyprus, Argentina, Thailand, Singapore, Turkey and Hong Kong.
The company supports a large number of athletes and clubs in various ways of the sport, to promote the passion that moves us: canoeing.

Mission
Designing, testing and producing boats and equipment top of the range is our main goal. The long experience of building and knowledge acquired enable us to build more advanced boats in lines and technology, seek perfection on detail, optimizing factors allowing a perfectly comfortable and solidarity between the athlete and the boat.

Vision
Maintaining a close relationship with athletes, coaches and users to point our production for competitive results, to meet needs and create cutting edge equipment.
We make all the efforts to be on the front wave on design and use of new materials more resistant and lightweight.

History

1979 - June 21.th born the idea of creating a company-ELIO–Art. Desportos Nauticos, Ltd.

1989 - The company starts its internationalization through exports to Denmark.

1983 - Starts support to the Crestuma International Marathon providing boats to national athletes and many international teams. Participation that remain, the fruit of the spirit of corporate social responsibility.

1993 - The company starts working with honeycomb with vacuum, the more emblematic construction of Elio´s brand.

1995 – Gold to the K 2 senior in the European Championships Marathon.

2000 - First medal in the World Championships Marathon in K2 seniors crew.

2001 - The C1 NEPTUNE with a remarkable/revolutionary new look was launched in Seville, Spain distinguished by a large acceptance result to its brilliant performances. In the Spanish league, the national champion and six of the nine medalled athletes used the very new C1 Neptune.

2002 – a non-favourite Czech K2 senior won the World Cup Marathon in Denmark with our K2 Zeus, a model developed by Elio.

2003 - Elio start marketing the new model of kayak competition, ZEUS, who got excellent performances.

2004 – The brand repeated the feat from last year, this time with the F16 model, which had also great acceptance among competitive athletes.

2005 – Set up of five new models: the K1 and K2 SPRINT, the hybrid master/competition K1 DOLPHIN and the racing sea kayaking ALBATROZ on Solo and Duo versions in honour to this kind of large sea bird that is endangered of extinction. This year of its launch, the ALBATROZ models won the seakayak races in Portugal.

2006 - The Year of the statement of the company with the launch of new models for different types of canoeing: 1. - Kayak-polo ENIGMA, in the versions of Alpha, Mega and Omega. 2. - minikayak Penguin, presented to the clubs for the very beginners. 3. - NEON sea kayaking in Solo and Duo versions mainly for touring. 4. - Kayak Surf - SPEEDY - presented at the World Cup of Kayak Surf held in Peniche (Portugal) which caused a furor among surfpaddlers for its light weight - only 5.6 kg. 5. – TITAN - a kayak for young athletes extremely competitive that was having great approval among the clubs.

2007 – K1 Sprint 75 and 85 and K2 Sprint L has been recognized by the ICF - International Canoe Federation - as suitable for international competitions (Duisburg Germany). Victory in all categories except C1 senior and C2 junior, in the National Marathon Championship. The K2 Albatroz was the winner of the National sea kayaking Championship. We were making the international tour showing and let the athletes test our kayaks at the top events. This year we attended the European and the World Championship flatwater discipline as well as at the Marathon World Championship and a few World Cups. We also had partnerships with universities and contributed to the implementation and transfer of technology in projects in the following areas of research: Acoustics - (FEUP) Transport low consumption - (UTAD) Mini planes of prospecting - (U. Minho)

2008 - Presentation of five new canoes: the Sea Kayak BALEARES, K1 SPRINT 80, a kayak that has become necessary to make the weight difference between the existing 75 and 85. Within this line of molded Sprint, we still mold a role model for youngsters, the SPRINT 65. With the revolutionizing aspect of fitness/Master, PUMA was born. The kayak was needed to satisfy those athletes, still competitors but willing to paddle in a more stable, comfortable kayak. Also during this year we have improved ALBATROZ Solo, the sea kayak, making it more competitive.
Held in the Czech town of Tyn nad Vlatvou, the Spanish team, Ramón Ferro and Oscar Graña from Clube de Piraguismo won the silver medal on the C2 competition, behind the Hungarian team Edvin Csabai and Edvin Gyore. The Portuguese Jose Sousa and Nuno Barros, also with an Elio C2 got 6th position. On K1, Marcio Pinto with an Elio Sprint 85 was 16th on a race won by the spanish world champion Emilio Merchan.

2009 - After we developed and install the rudder wheel on our boats, now we put her inside a closed box. The advantages were clear, besides the good look, the rudder stays more solid and more impact resistant. This system can be retrofitted on some of the older Elio Kayak models.
Another innovative solution was the tube adjustment, a small improvement to maximize ergonomic comfort in the kayak. This new piece allows the paddler to make footbar adjustments to suit his leg length without changing the rudder cables tension as the tube slides easily without interfering on the remaining set. It is an innovator system extremely benefic to the clubs as it provides a “one size fits all” solution quicker and more effective.
Rui Silva of C.R.P. Arnelas, won the National Championship at K1 Junior with a Sprint 80. Elio Kayaks climbed up the podium again at the Crews Cup, a day after the National Championship with the K2 formed by Márcio Mesquita and Rui Silva of CRP Arnelas who gave a demonstration of force at the last turn, escaping to the very close competitors from CNPonte of Lima and the CN Crestuma.
Following the experience on the previous Titan, launched in 2006, the 1. º model to be designed and built for beginners to competition now its evolution appears - the TITAN Evolution. This new model resulted after some feedback heard about the old Titan. Reducing a little the stability we made a faster beginner kayak. The paddle entrance is similar to the racing kayaks which allows the young paddler to get used just from start to the sprint kayaks and allows them to improve technic essential for the high level goals.
After two years on the market, Speedy, launched in 2007 and the others that followed, LUCIFER and 666 have proved their durability and resistance to shock waves.
Kayaks ELIO dominated the Junior Canoe Sprint Cup. Carlos Rocha, Marcio Mesquita, Tiago Moreira and Rui Silva - 4 from the 5-1.st positions have used our K1 Sprint, in its different sizes. Our SPRINT model showed once again to be on top of the great challenges, allowing these 4 paddlers to get top place at the national team. Gold, silver and bronze at the II Marathon Cup held in Torreira. Gold for C1 Senior, Jose Sousa, Ana Henriques K2 DS / Sofia Coelho; C2 Junior Nelson Silva / Fábio Rocha; K2 DJ Sara Gama / Catarina Sequeira; K1 J João Cruz; K2V Dario Nogueira / Sergio Ribeiro. Silver for K2 Senior Nuno Henriques / Artur Tomaz; C2 S José Machado / Machado Andre; C1 Diogo Ferreira J; K1V Anibal Gomes. Bronze K2 DJ Silvia Sousa / Juliana Rocha; K1 DJ Debora Silva; C1C Tiago Santos. ...
The Argentine crew Pinta and Martin, with our K2 SPRINT L were qualified for the Worlds in Crestuma.

JULIO MORENO PRIETO form the Club IUXTANAM MONTEORO won the I Marathon Cup in Spain with our K1 SPRINT 80.

Unbeatable victory on the I SeaKayak Cup. Among several seakayaks, the 7 K2 Albatross, were all medalled.

Gyertyanos Gergely, Hungary, was qualified to the World Canoe Sprint in Canada, with an ELIO SPRINT 75.

Carlos Rocha reach to Final A 500M, in Poznan, Poland, with an ELIO Sprint 80.

Gold and bronze at the European Canoe Marathon Championships, held in Ostróda, Poland. This year we began to assist to a bigger international expansion achieveing medals in most of our kayaks.

The Kayak Polo team from Setúbal Kayak Club competed, as always did with the ÉLIO Polos and became once again Champions of Kayak Polo.

73.º New Record on SELLA with an ELIO K2 SPRINT L. Julio Martinez renewed his triumph. This year with his companion Michael Castanón, known as “Jewel” achieved his 11.º triumph in K2, with 1 hour, 1 minute and 14seconds.

ELIO Kayaks attended the 2009 ICF World Canoe Sprint Championships 11-16 August in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.

World Championship Canoe Marathon 2009 – Crestuma. Tom Daniels, England bronze medal in K1 sprint 75.

A great debut, was thus the arrival of kayaks Elio kayaks into Cyprus market. Cypriot paddlers were delighted at the wide choice of Elio designs available and appreciated the quality of construction. Kikis Paraskevas of the Cyprus Canoe Federation spoke for many "All clubs which have placed orders were very satisfied with the quality and the image of the Elio Kayaks." A successful raid, which illustrates the expansion of Portuguese brand and reputation that Elio has been gaining in international markets.

2010 – Lauched the new Integrale POLO, featuring recessed foam bumpers. No more unsightly bumpers to slow down proceedings. Top division polo paddlers are enthusiastic and see this boat as a vital part of their arsenal for success.

Unbeatable victory for Nestor Pinta / Martín Mozzicafredo at the XXIV edition of the Regatta del Rio Negro, in Patagonia, Argentina in 2010, with our K2 SPRINT L one of the longest races in the world.

Attentive to the needs of athletes, the company launched two new models: - K 2 SPRINT S - new model for the younger, lighter paddlers who rely on the correct power to weight & volume ratios to reach their full potential. The second newcomer is the; - K1 SPRINT 95 XL model that was missing in our already wide range of racing kayaks for the heavier 90kg plus paddlers.

Olympic CHAMPION Carlos Perez Rial dominates with ELIO KAYAKS. GOLD and SILVER in the Spanish 200m Cup in K4, C2 and the K2 SPRINT L in Verducido, 22-23 May. These wins at this high profile competition are testament to the high performance credentials of ELIO Kayaks and the trust in ELIO by athletes of the highest calibre.

SEA KAYAK NEWS – GOLD to the ALBATROZ I and II - again the Albatroz were unbeatable.

With such strong performance credentials, ELIO continues its expansion by having a presence in key stages of the ICF Sprint World Cup events. First we participated in the Sprint World Cup I, held in Vichy, France, on days 6-9 May. Then again after a quick shift change of company representatives, at the end of the month ELIO was pff to Hungary at the Maty-ér Regatta Course & the Sprint World Cup II - held between 28.th and 30.th of May. During the program at the new World Championship Course, ELIO was present in 29 performance tests within the open (senior) categories. The last stop for the dedicated ELIO Team was Germany, further evidence our dedication to the ICF Calender, this time in Duisburg for World Race 3.

It´s always an honour and it drives our passion for performance seeing the ELIO brand among athletes and participating in the most prestigious international events.