Sheri, the packraft pioneer

Sheri Tingey is the inventor of the modern packraft. Her design revolutionized an entire type of boat and made her a celebrated entrepreneur in a male-dominated industry.

“I’m like a beaver,” Sheri Tingey says, laughing warmly. “If beavers don’t chew, their teeth grow through their skull. If I don’t create, I go crazy.” The 76-year-old designer sits comfortably at home, her son Thor beside her. On our video call, her voice is clear and powerful, despite the chronic fatigue that has accompanied her for decades.

It is this relentless drive that powered her through five decades in the outdoor industry, quietly shaping the field in ways few noticed at the time.

Sheri Tingey at the sewing machine — Sheri Tingey

The idea of the packraft

In 2000, the time was ripe for new ideas. At Thor’s suggestion, Sheri began thinking about a boat that was more robust and lighter than the usual inflatable boats, with a smaller pack size—a boat designed for outdoor adventures that didn’t take place exclusively on the water. The result was the packraft, which filled a gap in the market that no one had previously recognized.

When Sheri Tingey talks about her beginnings, it sounds like a chapter from the Wild West. In the early 1970s, she moved to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, with one clear goal—to ski. “Jackson was untamed, free, and full of incredibly strong women,” she recalls. In this rugged community, equality was a lived reality. Many women were Olympians, others had served as pilots in the Women’s Air Corps during World War II, and many had already made their mark in male-dominated fields.

Sheri found her own path to independence as well: she designed and sewed functional ski clothing—at first just for herself—that quickly drew attention in Jackson and was soon sold successfully under the name Design by Sheri.

Jackson was untamed, free, and full of incredibly strong women.

Sheri Tingey

Sheri began sewing stuffed animals and doll clothes at the age of three, and by ten, she was
making all her own clothing. Later, her son Thor, of course, wore nothing store-bought. That she would one day combine her needle and thread skills with her love of the outdoors was something she could not have imagined but was perhaps inevitable for the passionate skier and kayaker.

After marrying and having a son, Sheri faced a life-changing diagnosis at just 34: Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, a little-understood condition at the time, often dismissed by doctors as a “women’s ailment.” She was told that her active life as a skier and kayaker was over. “You go to the doctors, and they say, ‘Just take two aspirin. There’s nothing wrong with you.’ My ex-father-in-law, who was a doctor, thought I was crazy. There was no tangible confirmation that what I was experiencing was real.”

She had no choice but to hide her persistent exhaustion and other symptoms that made her feel profoundly unwell, carefully rationing her three functional hours each day. Her son Thor, just two years old at the time of her diagnosis, never saw his mother healthy. Still, she passed on her love of the outdoors to him: “I didn’t know any different. Instead of strenuous expeditions, we just went on raft trips, and that felt normal to me.”

Sheri Tingey river rafting in a packraft

Decades later, when Sheri’s health had stabilized, Thor returned from a multiday rafting trip where he and his friends had pushed their inflatable watercraft to its limits. For the next expedition, he wanted something better—sturdier, lighter, and more compact. Since nothing like it existed, he asked his mom to design and build it. Sheri immediately saw the potential. “As a kayaker, I knew water sports; as a designer, I understood ultralight materials. The land-side world didn’t know anything about inflatable products, and the water-sports side only thought in 25-kilo categories.”

As a woman in my late 50s in a testosterone-fueled industry, I had less than zero credibility. No one wanted to talk to me.

Sheri Tingey

Mother and son were convinced of their idea, but reentering the outdoor industry proved challenging. Meetings with established manufacturers left Sheri shocked: “As a woman in my late 50s in a testosterone-fueled industry, I had less than zero credibility. No one wanted to talk to me.” This experience shaped her strategic approach: “I very deliberately hid behind the boat. Every-thing had to be about the product, not me.” Thor became CEO; his presence as a white man still lends Alpacka Raft extra credibility today. “Unfortunately, that’s the reality,” Thor says. “People take me more seriously than her when it comes to the product.” While women used to be openly rejected, Sheri now sees subtler barriers. “You notice the underlying thought: ‘How could she understand this? She’s a woman.’” Her advice to young women: “Develop inner confidence. Know who you are—and own it.”

Sheri’s design process follows no textbook. Her biggest challenge? “Calming my brain! At three in the morning, I wake up thinking, ‘Oh, I could change this or that!’” Failed ideas go into her “little black hole collection”—often simply a decade ahead of their time. “Never throw anything away completely. You never know when you’ll need it again.” Thor Tingey chuckles: “There’s good stubbornness and bad stubbornness; hers is the good kind. She pursues her ideas, even when I think they’re terrible.”

Today, Alpacka Raft is respected globally in the outdoor industry. “Big brands like Patagonia know us,” Thor says proudly. But Sheri has no interest in awards or recognition. “I don’t care about that stuff.” In the end, her humility prevails: “I was just in the right place at the right time.” But that’s only part of the story. A closer look reveals that Sheri’s success is the result of a great deal of persistence and hard work—despite all the obstacles.

EOFT 2025 program

Sheri is part of the EOFT 2025/26 film program.