Mission Accomplished!
Posted: Wed Mar 03, 2004 1:51 am
Well, I'm back from my trip to Ithaca, New York, and I have the c-1 Viper in my possession 
. I drove up from Richmond, Virginia last Thursday early in the morning so I had time to pick up the boat, hang out for a while, and then get to the pool session at Cornell University. It was there that I FINALLY go to meet our very own NZMatt and another c-boater, Kevin.
It was a really awesome time for me. We started off paddling some slalom boats (Kevin and me) while Matt was tooling around in a Massive Air oc-1. We ran gates and tried out different gate maneuvers and techniques (basically, Kevin worked out while Matt and I floundered our moves
). After that, we kept switching between Matt's VERY cut down Acrobat and spent about the rest of the time being "kings" of the rodeo. Basically, we just kept trying all kinds of things that looked like flailing to onlookers, but they were cool moves to us 
. We were even successful in spinning the boat down underwater. Probably the funniest thing they got to watch was me strapping into the Acrobat on the deck and then shoulder rolling into the water 
. It was the only way I could figure to get into the boat without sinking every time, the boat was THAT low in volume 
. I took pics of the session, but the exposures only gave faint ghost images, so I only have memories of that night.
I drove all around the areas of Ithaca on Friday, checking out Falls Creek, Cayuga Lake, and Taughannock Falls and just enjoying stomping through the snow, slipping on the ice, wishing I had snowshoes, and simply loving every minute of it
! On Saturday, I drove back to Richmond.
I go the boat out yesterday, Monday, for the first time before I did any outfitting changes on the boat and had a great time surfing and squirting. In this boat, you have to keep the bow very active and surf dynamically or risk burying the bow in the back of the wave in front of you. Squirting was a little different, but a VERY sweet move in this boat with a lot of control. Without hip pads, I was tentative executing the moves, so once the boat is outfitted, I'm just gonna go nuts and squirt all over the place! Anyone care to comment on that
?
I found out what was wrong with the coaming. It wasn't cracked, the inside lip of the coaming that was attached to the boat is coming right off! When you push down on the left side of the rim, the whole side goes right down inside the boat. I don't think repair is all that difficult--I injected some epoxy-resin into the space and then covered over the seam, inside the boat, with fiberglass tape. I then taped the coaming and rim to hold everything in place nice and tight and wedged minicell foam inside the cockpit to squeeze everything into place nice and tight while it cures.
I'll let y'all know how it turned out on Thursday after I go paddle.
KNeal
. I drove up from Richmond, Virginia last Thursday early in the morning so I had time to pick up the boat, hang out for a while, and then get to the pool session at Cornell University. It was there that I FINALLY go to meet our very own NZMatt and another c-boater, Kevin.It was a really awesome time for me. We started off paddling some slalom boats (Kevin and me) while Matt was tooling around in a Massive Air oc-1. We ran gates and tried out different gate maneuvers and techniques (basically, Kevin worked out while Matt and I floundered our moves
). After that, we kept switching between Matt's VERY cut down Acrobat and spent about the rest of the time being "kings" of the rodeo. Basically, we just kept trying all kinds of things that looked like flailing to onlookers, but they were cool moves to us . We were even successful in spinning the boat down underwater. Probably the funniest thing they got to watch was me strapping into the Acrobat on the deck and then shoulder rolling into the water . It was the only way I could figure to get into the boat without sinking every time, the boat was THAT low in volume . I took pics of the session, but the exposures only gave faint ghost images, so I only have memories of that night.I drove all around the areas of Ithaca on Friday, checking out Falls Creek, Cayuga Lake, and Taughannock Falls and just enjoying stomping through the snow, slipping on the ice, wishing I had snowshoes, and simply loving every minute of it
! On Saturday, I drove back to Richmond.I go the boat out yesterday, Monday, for the first time before I did any outfitting changes on the boat and had a great time surfing and squirting. In this boat, you have to keep the bow very active and surf dynamically or risk burying the bow in the back of the wave in front of you. Squirting was a little different, but a VERY sweet move in this boat with a lot of control. Without hip pads, I was tentative executing the moves, so once the boat is outfitted, I'm just gonna go nuts and squirt all over the place! Anyone care to comment on that
?I found out what was wrong with the coaming. It wasn't cracked, the inside lip of the coaming that was attached to the boat is coming right off! When you push down on the left side of the rim, the whole side goes right down inside the boat. I don't think repair is all that difficult--I injected some epoxy-resin into the space and then covered over the seam, inside the boat, with fiberglass tape. I then taped the coaming and rim to hold everything in place nice and tight and wedged minicell foam inside the cockpit to squeeze everything into place nice and tight while it cures.
I'll let y'all know how it turned out on Thursday after I go paddle.
KNeal
It certainly handles differently in moving water; tons of fun! I'm not really in control of the edges enough at this point to really work on a mystery (and my offside ferries felt really weak!) but I look forward to gaining that control. I love this boat! 
.....but the small plastic boat meant I could go play in the hole where the water enters that lake. Had some good rides and I'm definitely learning things in the Acrobat that I can then apply to my other boats