Boat swinging
I lied on Thursday when I said I didn't know when I was returning to the wet stuff. Well, I suppose I didn't lie, I just forgot to mention that I was going to the swimming pool for a demo night with Brookbank Canoes and UK Canoes, the local canoe shops. I tried seven boats (pictures above) in total over the hour session. That's, on average, eight-and-a-half minutes in each boat, which is no way long enough to give a fair review of any of them; though some of them really impressed me and some didn't.
Liquid Logic Hoss A nice creekboat, but too big for me. It's got a really nice outfitting, but didn't make any outstanding impression.
Pyranha Stretch One of those new boats by Pyranha, which has been advertised as a play-creeker. It was actually really nice to paddle and with some effort it could be cartwheeled on the flat. Well I got the bow down some way so that's a start. Final say on this boat: a bit of a marketing gimmick, in the fact that it is billed as a play-creeker - I think I'll stick to having a playboat and creekboat (when I get one).
Pyranha 4-Twenty The new offering in the way of playboats from Pyranha. It was, like the Stretch, really nice to paddle but very similar in shape to my All-Star. I tried the smaller size of the two boats and there was less volume in it compared to my playboat meaning I could throw it around better, but it would be too uncomfortable for the rivers I paddle in my playboat.
Prijon Cross The worst boat of the night. It was the most creekish of the boats I tried, but I felt the outfitting was just un-safe. The footrests were bolted like most creekboats, but there was then these straps to adjust the footrest with once you'd loosened the bolts. When I was paddling the boat I could feel these straps flapping around and therefore could be a bit of a snag hazard especially with the sewn in loops at the end.
Fluid Spice This boat was too big for me and I could see that if I was heavier it would be a really nice river-play boat as the ends were quite slicy.
Dragarossi Fish I was hoping that this boat was coming to the pool as I was interested in the thigh-hooks. However, these had been removed; I suppose this was for safety as they could prevent someone getting out when upside down if they couldn't roll. I really liked the boat even though some of the outfitting was missing. I could see it being really playfull in the surf.
Fluid Flirt This was the boat that I always wanted before I got my All-Star. When I came to buying a playboat however the small Flirt was too small and the medium one was too big. I did, last night, manage to squeeze myself into the small, but it was uncomfy so I probably made the right choice with the All-Star. I did manage to throw the Flirt around a lot as I was at the top of the weight range.
To bring this post to an end I'll just say the night was a really good idea and well worth going to, just for the fact that you could try so many boats for free in such a short space of time. It was a bit of a shame they didn't have many creekboats as I would have liked to try the Jackson Rocker, but I suppose they've no real attraction with them in the pool like the more playful boats.
Iain
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