C-Forum

I paddled both boats at GAF and liked them both a lot. No, that's wrong, I liked the Zypher and LOVED the Spark.
All the things Wayner said above seemed to be true of the Zypher and the material seems like the canoe of the future. I handled it and watched several different guys try to break it, all without success. I think Dave N got it done by running over it with his car. Now, as we all know, rivers have their own ways and I am sure that pretty soon we will hear of some river eating some Zypher but those incidents will be fewer then with ABS or Kevlar. I think within a few years Twintex will be the standard. Your average bow dimple will be a thing of the past. It may be that getting d-rings to stay in is still somewhat of an issue but that is easily solved by just glassing in tiedown points.
From a paddling perspective, it was fast and very predictible. I rolled it several times and after I remembered to pause a sec to let out the water dammed up by the big minicell saddle it came up nice and smooth. I liked the boat and will recomend it to new paddlers. I also that because it is so predictible, tough and has such a smooth roll, we wil be seeing a lot of it on creeks.

I put in with the Spark and Farabee and knew I was buying it before I got to Quarry. It is a rocket and turns really well. It is common knowledge that KAZ (who I have never met) is a wonderful boat designer and this is certainly proof. To have great speed, great turning ability and a very easy roll makes this an exceptional canoe. It is like a bad woman; makes ya wana do new stuff. Paddle one, I think you will like it too.
Chris Kelly

Sorry I got lost there, were you talkin about the new boat or the bad women?

What does a good woman make you want to do?

Thanks for the report.

cnaill

Louie.

dirty old open boaters!

Chris,
I am interested to know if you got to paddle the Taureau and what you thought of it?
And how does it rate on the bad woman scale? ha!

My good woman should be glad I didn't go to GAF, I suspect I would have spent some of her money (and a lot of mine) on a new boat...

on the Ocoee. It is very responsive and has an easy roll but as a rule I don't care much for the little teeny play boats so that colors my opinion. Those who like the little boats say that the Taureau is a good one. I used to have a Skeeter and think I would like the Taureau better than it. Chris Kelly

Well, I haven't paddles a Taureau myself yet, but 2 weeks ago a friend of mine, who is a diehard Ocoee fan, tried one on Otter Creek in Upstate NY and he liked it so much that he ordered one for the spring, so it's gotta be a good creeker. I definitely will have to give it a try.

martin a.k.a. The Great Gonzo

I paddled a Taureau very briefly, in moving water a few weeks ago and it seemed like a pretty good boat. I didn't really test it on anything gnarly, of course.

Also, as I was paddling it across the river, folks were looking at me due to the extremely small cockpit. "It's an open boat!" I told them. "Yeah, so is mine!" shouted a C-1er. "Look!" He pointed down to his spray skirt which had a small hole in it. "Mine's an open boat too!" he laughed.

Okay, so I made that story up. Still, I would like to propose a deal to all canoe companies who get it in their head that they want to make another one of these small open boats:

Just give it a regular frickin keyhole cockpit with a rim - that way C-1ers can put a skirt on it . . . and open boaters can simply go without a skirt and still call it an open boat! I mean, really, since open boaters in the past haven't been bothered by decreasing cockpit sizes, why not just keep going until we are talking about regular cockpits?

Finally, I set up a friend's Prijon Release as a C-1 playboat, and man! it is awesome!!!!!

Alden

or a OC-1 that responds more like a kayak....however, the ones I have tried (conversions) have such a short depth, that I can't hardly stand to sit in one......mostly 7inch seats.....I know three inches shouldn't make a big difference, but my legs can't take it!
I keep thinking there has to be a boat that I could have at least a 9 inch seat in....I think I could handle that better.

The dimensions on the taureau say the depth is 16 inches....but I don't know what seat height is in it....or if a 9 inch seat would throw off the balance so much that it would be too unstable.

I'm at 8" in the following boats:
Viper - full cut
Acrobat - 1/2" cut
Big EZ
Forplay
I think my new-to-me master cut Acrobat is ~7". This one keeps your attention though. The higher you are the better balance (or roll ) you need. To get to a lower seat or be comfortable for longer periods of time stretch every day & paddle a bunch.

I believe the Taureau that I tried (David Nickersons Demo) had a 9" saddle. It felt very stable to me.

Tommy

Any pictures of the Zephyr's factory outfitting? E-mail 'em to me and I'll post them...

Would you prefer a bulkhead Zephyr, or saddle with straps?????

The bulkhead layup looked nice in my opinion.

Bill