Paul Arden | Tuesday, 2 September 2025
With the removal of “de minimis” in the US it’s worth pointing out that we pay tariffs/ import duties as they may appear around the world and the listed prices of 1145, 1195 and 1295USD is the final price you pay. This also includes International courier service and so this is the total price to your door. Usually any duties we pay to the courier but if you do get landed with a bill we will refund you. The same applies in the UK with Brexit and anywhere else for that matter.
Up until now, Britain was the only country where this applied! We have one final price and it applies globally. We sell rods to Australia, New Zealand, EU, US, Canada, Middle East, and SE Asia. There are a few elsewhere too. Argentina, Ukraine, Russia… there might be some in Africa.
What is going to be affected is replacement sections for mishaps. It was already tight with the courier fees (sometimes these can be as high as 80 Euros!). We don’t make profit on repairs but we try not to lose money either. Replacement sections cost maximum 200USD delivered to you including courier and import taxes. If you have purchased a rod with the X serial number (basically any rod over the past 18 months) then we don’t need the rod back for repair because we have a system in place now where broken sections can be replaced and the sections will fit. This makes a hell of a difference. With most rod manufacturers you need to return the rod, which is inconvenient and often expensive.
However we fit blanks to a master rod in the factory from the base up instead of the tip down. Consequently, while it’s more expensive and time consuming to manufacture, we have the ability to replace sections without having to hand fit to your existing rod, often straight out of stock, and of course we also have better build consistency this way too.
Tips have always fitted. It’s the lower sections which were a problem prior to this. Tips account for about 90% of breakages. You can order a spare tip at the time of purchase for an additional $150 ($200 if fitted with Torzites) and we will include a 5 piece rod sock.
The Hot Torpedo/Tortuga is of course the best rod in the Galaxy. Having made the best rod in the Galaxy we cannot make a better one in three years or ten years. It is as good as it’s ever going to be and will always be the best. Even 50 years from now. That’s what I believe. Which is good news for you because for your next HT you can buy a different model/ line weight! Many of our customers own 7 or 8 of our rods. And very sensible people they are too.
It’s worth reminding you (because one of my recent customers didn’t know and was surprised to learn) that every rod comes with a Zoom coaching lesson with me AND a 1 in 666 chance of winning a 2 week all-expenses paid trip on the Sexyloops yacht fishing with me. I will pay your flights!
It’s probably also worthwhile mentioning the point of all of this. It’s not to buy a flash car and a mansion on the hill with a swimming pool, maids and horses. I live on a small boat and I suspect I will always live on a small boat. My living costs are covered by my online flycasting coaching and guiding.
I do need to buy a Sexyloops yacht soon because I’m going to be a pirate. But the real purpose of Sexyloops is that I want to build a business that invests in, and creates projects like, Sungai Tiang Fly Fishing. This, if you haven’t come across it, is where I have taught the indigenous Orang Asli Malaysians to be fly fishing guides. They own and operate the business (it is their business) with all profits going to the village community. It protects both the river and the fish, by making it a catch and release, fly fishing only, Mahseer sports fishery.
This is such a wonderful project and I envisage Sexyloops in the future initiating and sponsoring similar projects around the world, using profits from rod and other tackle sales. If I can build something like this over the next 40 odd years, then to my mind I will have helped to create something useful. That’s really the whole objective. To build something that will be a small force of good in its own way and live beyond all of us.
I personally think that’s what business should be about. It shouldn’t be something that is passed down through families. Instead it should be given to society to do good things. In our case it’s to protect fish, promote catch and release fly fishing, and to help others become fly fishing guides and elevate their standard of living.
Building the best fly rods in the galaxy is one thing. But there is also a bigger picture.
Cheers, Paul
PoD: a shot last night. Fish ate and stumped me. Even the best rod in the galaxy can’t prevent you from getting stumped.