Adventure Seals expands with whole new world of outdoor knowledge

The Adventure Seals team, from left: Chathurika Kanishka, Ken Sladen, Adventure Seals Head of Operations and Market Development Ishan Fernando, Janath Ramakrishnan, Anton Ferdinands, Ahamed Azhan and Nishan Abeyratne. Kneeling from left: Supem de Silva and Rt. Major Ruvan Ranatunga

‘Viva Somnia Vestra – Live Your Dream’ is the motto behind Adventure Seals and they stand by that motto to make that little dream of yours a reality.  

Adventure Seals, known for their vast collection of branded adventure gear and safety equipment, had a soft opening of its revamped and expanded store located at No. 3, Vijaya Kumaratunga Mawatha, Colombo 5 on 7 August for close family, friends, clients and media. 

The store is now home to new brands such as Timberland, Condor, Coleman, Entre Prises, Reef, Rip Curl, Russells and much more.  

This expansion comes as Seals celebrates two years of giving the best in showing people how to really rough it out with equipment to keep you on the right path, gear to keep you well protected, give you shelter in any weather and most importantly to keep you safe wherever you are.

“This revamp is about more space and getting involved with more brands. Now that we have expanded to the other side as well, there are more brands to come in along with some clothing lines, surfing brands as well as provide some activities for interested parties. Earlier it was a retail sector and focusing on product lines but now we are introducing activities as well,” Adventure Seals Head of Operations and Market Development Ishan Fernando stated at the soft opening of the shop.

“The activity part of it is the new area we are trying to put a lot of emphasis on. It’s not only about selling a piece of equipment. We will show the buyer how to use the equipment they purchase, the safety party and other things needed to know about the product. Major Ruvan and Ishan will be handling that part,” Supem de Silva stated. 

In Sri Lanka a lot of people like to do many things but then the knowledge and skill required to do it is not enough. 

“One of the primary objectives of setting up a store of this nature two years ago was for the purpose of encouraging people to go out. Trying to break the youngsters out of the pop culture and getting them to take full advantage of the end of the war and to enlighten all those enthusiasts that there is an opportunity to rediscover Sri Lanka,” Rt. Major Ruvan Ranatunga added. 

“This is what drives us, it’s a passionate part of our lives and that is what drives us to make it more viable and instead of making it a dream, it’s achievable. But you have to have that right knowledge and maybe the right equipment to enjoy it to that extent. So our journey up to this point has been to primarily bring the right equipment for the right job. We achieved that to a great extent and now the next hurdle is to bring the right knowledge for the right sport so that people can do it and enjoy it in a safe manner. Safety is one of the main concerns. Safety is not only for yourself but it’s also for the environment and the communities living in the areas that we go to do these activities in,” he stressed.

“One thing we are conscious of is that to make sure that activities are done and conducted in a way that it doesn’t spoil the communities we go to. Commercialising expectations that just don’t work out you are damaging the community and the environment in trying to do that. So this is what we are trying to focus on when it comes to the knowledge base. Knowledge is in the areas of safety, rope work, first aid, navigation, camp craft and general awareness of the areas and of course planning. This is one serious area we are looking at. How people plan their outdoor activities especially if it has to do with Hiking, Trekking. Basically very independent expeditions where you don’t have a lot of support staff how do you conduct it, plan it and execute it. So this is how it is generally done in other countries all over the world. Giving this knowledge is one of the great challenges.

“We have social media which is one of the first ways we have done it. And we want the store itself to be hub where people of similar interests come together. This needs to be a resource hub and not just a store. All of us who are employed here have experience in the outdoors in various levels. We have people who have done all kinds of things – climbing, diving, sailing, kayaking, trekking and camping. So we do have people who we can put together when the knowledge is needed. So rather than be a store we want to be a knowledge hub – that’s our goal. And I am proud to say that two years ago when we said this we managed to achieve it. Today our brands and our affiliations reflect that. We have some serious partnership with most of the outdoor equipment and service providers. We have changed the thinking of working against each other, how we can work together for the betterment of the sports and the interests.

“The difference about us is that we are able to get international support and knowledge and we have done through our client base shared all the knowledge and taken from one stage to another stage and created an entire lifestyle with that. So now, like Supem said, it’s the next step where we create all the activities and go ahead with it,” Ishan added. 

So this is one of the main areas they are looking at – the training and reaching out where they have conducted awareness programs in schools, universities and hiking. Some of these seminars and workshops they have carried out are FOC. It’s actually giving out more than getting. It’s not an expectation of getting business out of it or funding out of it or money based, they bring in people from overseas to help the enthusiast to gain that extra bit/edge to take this forward. 

All this began when Major Ruvan wanted to walk across Sri Lanka for a good cause from the south to the north and Seals played a small part in it. Ishan and Major Ruvan had this plan which Supem thought was a good enough plan for them to support. The whole team got behind Ruvan and provided him with all the necessary equipment along with moral support and whatever they could for him to make his dream come true. 

“We are a good team. The walk was a team effort and I don’t think it would have been successful as it was if I didn’t have the right support or if we didn’t pitch in the same way. From day one, the craziest of ideas if it is mad enough we would look at it and that’s how it all starts. Our tagline is Live Your Dreams and this is what drives us. We base our training on, our store and our business partnership on. And we like to encourage people to live their dreams. After my journey we supported Jeremy Bolling to sail around Sri Lanka, we supported Elmo when he wanted to climb the next highest point that one day would reach Everest. Even the Peradeniya Explorers Club, when they want to do their activities, we supported them as they wanted to do something different,” Ranatunga added.

“When it comes to adventure, you cannot afford to make mistakes, because if anything goes wrong, that’s the end of everything. That’s why our main focus is always safety first and has the proper guides who know everything about what they are doing.”

Seals invites all those adventurers out there to come experience this knowledge hub and possible get them to make your dreams come true. For more information on its brands and products please check out its FB page https://www.facebook.com/adventureseals or send an email to inquire more on activities and expeditions to [email protected].