Sith review
Posted: Wed Sep 21, 2005 12:06 am
Me: average C-1 paddler, 190lbs.
River: French Broad, section 9, flowing 1,700cfs
The Sith is a great river runner. I was pleasantly surprised with the speed. It was much faster than I expected for a boat this short, wide & with the ends turned up this much. I also expected the planing disk on the hull to be a real drag. It was easy to put the boat where I wanted it mid-rapid. I was able to catch waves on the fly (something I’m not good at). I turned upstream above a wave & started paddling, expecting to drift back into the wave. I looked around & found that I was going upstream. Cool. The eddy turns (both carved & pivoted) are better than anything I’ve paddled. I got stern-squirted a couple of times in rapids, but I think the boat was trimmed a little stern heavy & a little foam on the back-rest would easily fix that problem. The boat is extremely stable, but it is wide so you expect that. The first time I rolled it I thought it was hard, but after a few rolls it felt fine. Surfing was smooth & predictable. It’s easy to put it where you want it on a wave. I found it hard to spin, but I’m no rodeo star either. One really neat thing I noticed while surfing was that not long after establishing a front-surf I could feel the stern sink into a blast position.
I liked the outfitting. I’m not sure how the boats are delivered, but this one had thigh-straps, a lap-belt & bulkhead. I felt real connected to the boat. I think the cockpit rim is a little larger than “slalom sized”. I was able to get my skirt on it, but it was real tight.
The boat is very stiff, which I liked. There was no sagging when I leaned on the deck getting in & out of the boat. There were some small bubbles in the finish & a weird texture if you look closely. The seams were rough. I think if you paddled it much the seams would wear on your shaft & shaft hand.
Overall it’s a real nice play/river runner. Just don’t expect it to look like something from PS Composites.
Thanks to Bill for letting me paddle the Sith.
http://cboats.net/recboats/sith.shtml
River: French Broad, section 9, flowing 1,700cfs
The Sith is a great river runner. I was pleasantly surprised with the speed. It was much faster than I expected for a boat this short, wide & with the ends turned up this much. I also expected the planing disk on the hull to be a real drag. It was easy to put the boat where I wanted it mid-rapid. I was able to catch waves on the fly (something I’m not good at). I turned upstream above a wave & started paddling, expecting to drift back into the wave. I looked around & found that I was going upstream. Cool. The eddy turns (both carved & pivoted) are better than anything I’ve paddled. I got stern-squirted a couple of times in rapids, but I think the boat was trimmed a little stern heavy & a little foam on the back-rest would easily fix that problem. The boat is extremely stable, but it is wide so you expect that. The first time I rolled it I thought it was hard, but after a few rolls it felt fine. Surfing was smooth & predictable. It’s easy to put it where you want it on a wave. I found it hard to spin, but I’m no rodeo star either. One really neat thing I noticed while surfing was that not long after establishing a front-surf I could feel the stern sink into a blast position.
I liked the outfitting. I’m not sure how the boats are delivered, but this one had thigh-straps, a lap-belt & bulkhead. I felt real connected to the boat. I think the cockpit rim is a little larger than “slalom sized”. I was able to get my skirt on it, but it was real tight.
The boat is very stiff, which I liked. There was no sagging when I leaned on the deck getting in & out of the boat. There were some small bubbles in the finish & a weird texture if you look closely. The seams were rough. I think if you paddled it much the seams would wear on your shaft & shaft hand.
Overall it’s a real nice play/river runner. Just don’t expect it to look like something from PS Composites.
Thanks to Bill for letting me paddle the Sith.
http://cboats.net/recboats/sith.shtml