C-Forum

Well, I just tried out the legendary Viper the other day. It is a sweet boat!

How did it happen? It was a clear black night, a clear white moon, Warren G was down at Little Falls, tryin to consume . . . (Name that song . . . )

No, actually I was paddling on the Potomac when I met a fellow named Charlie Martin who had a beautiful blue glass boat, about 11 feet long. I asked him what it was and he told me it was a Viper. I climbed in and tested it out and found it to be really fun. It was extremely wide, very stable, and fast. Yet you could sink the tail (or bow) very easily. The bow stayed out of the water when paddling fast though, so it didn't turn into an ender-fest.

The boat was amazingly heavy for glass! But probably very durable. It was made by PS Composites (or something like that).

I will have to get one some day. It would be a great Upper Yough/Big Sandy/Potomac boat.

I once read that the guitarist Slash has 100 guitars. I hope to become like that as far as boats. Have an arsenal on top of the car.

I'll just get Kaz and Sir Adam to write me into their wills . . .

Fun forever

Alden

Alden,
I remember meeting John Frachella (sp?) up in Maine at a long ago Kenduskeag Slalom. What a great individual and great boat that he designed. Although squirt boatin is not my cup of tea, the viper can do alot of things and was truly ahead of its time. Now its a time tested classic to those who are fortunate to own one. You should expand your quiver. Theres so many designs that can each do certain things so well and what a life it is on the river to discover it all for yourself. Keep your inquisitive nature roarin.

I have not seen Sir Adams Quiver, but Kaz keeps a pretty small one. He's very adept at building a new boat for racing, winning in it a few times and then selling it to someone who thinks they will do as well in it after watching Kaz. Its definitely the boat. Sonny Hunt and Harold Deal on the other hand both have complete museums of open boating history and some decked boats as well. I'm down to a dozen myself these days but most are broken, worn out and kept for the memories or to plant my petunias in.
What's gettin in my will worth to ya? I need a few new boats too.
Pat

To paraphrase the Citibank Ad, "What's in Your Quiver?"

Ya gotta love the Viper It's awesome for stuff like the lower Gauley. I forget the name of the rapid, but PAC told me that there was a hole at the bottom of the wave-train. I said ok & punched it without even thinking about it in my Viper. THEN he tells me that it was a warning, not an invitation My plastic boat would have been stuck there, but the Viper just cruised on through

Mine is one of the old Winterport boats. No indication as to when it was built. It's on the heavy side for glass, but it's crazy fast, super manueverable, punches holes at will & stern squirts on flat-water I have better controlled stern squirts in my Viper than in my Acrobat. One of these days I'll have a new Viper built. I don't really like the colors on mine. I want a bunch of red metal-flake The only thing I don't love about the performance is that it's a little long for surfing steep waves. But you can clue, which is neat. I talked to Paul @ PS Composites @ Gauley Fest. He had a bunch of boats there. Man, he's making some hot looking boats He can do a variety of lay-ups so you get what you want.

So you could easily sink the bow? I weigh ~190 & my boat is the full cut. I have to find a pretty strong eddyline to get the bow down on mine. What was the cut of the boat that you tried?

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/wh20crazy ... /my_photos

How many boats do you need? One more

Hey citizen,
I was down on the banks of the Potomac looking for ya this past Saturday. But no there weren't any C-boaters playing in Maryland chute. I thought it was at a good level for a Viper or slalom boat. Well some day we'll cross paths again.

till next
Jim

Hey, Alden. That was me out on the Potomac. Nice meeting you and nice Super D as well. Below is a link to some pictures of the Viper for all. Paul Schreiner built the boat.

http://homepage.mac.com/martincs3/paddl ... lbum8.html
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