C-Forum

Couple wants to get a WW tandem playboat. We do have a solo Vertige (12' 10") but it seems wet enough solo let alone with 2 paddlers (300 lbs. total). Any thoughts out there on the Vertige X vs. the Blast? How steep is the learing curve on the Blast?

This year I tandemed with a friend in one of our local races. we had never paddled together before, neither of us paddle tandem except on rare occasions. It was excellent to paddle. I know th eblast is a great boay, but I think there would be a learnning curve from what my friends said. I watched some excellent paddlers flip it doing an eddy turn right after they climbed in for a demo of it.

The blast tends to be a pretty squirrelly boat... the paddlers are really close together making it difficult (horrible) to paddle in a straight line. However... it is extremely dry and can maneuver like a solo boat (that feature is its downfall, too). The learning curve can be frustrating. This is a boat to move into, but I wouldn't usually recommend it to start.

The Vertige X is nice and stable and tracks much better. It still has hefty WW capabilities, but lacks some maneuverability. Much better for beginning or intermediate paddling.

I think of a VertigeX as a normal ww tandem, in which 2 canoeists who are used to more traditional could paddle tandem.

I think of the Blast as a ww tandem that's for ww solo boaters who want to paddle tandem. It's pretty tight quarters if you have in mind a traditional canoe, but if you're coming from other ww boats and want to get something that 2 good, light ww paddlers can blast around in....

PY.

caveat - I haven't actually paddled a Blast tandem, I'd need a very skinny partner!, but I know some big guys who use them as solos.

I had the opportunity to paddle both these boats as tandem this weekend. I paddled the Vertigae X with a tandem crew weighing in probably around 275lbs and the Blast at around 250lbs and 340lbs.

We found the Vertige X to be a great boat. We had never paddled together before and took it for a high water run down the class III section of the Simme. I need to apologise to Phillip from Paschifique for putting a few hefty scratches in his brand new demo boat, but it was a hellishly fun run. The Vertige X runs very dry and still handles very well. It is a classically inspired design, and seems very stable and predictable. Yet it still kicks around very fast into eddys when you ask it to.

The Blast I am not able to provide much of a review of, as I was a bit stressed out at the time. Jo comments that she felt very comfortable in the boat once she got used to it's lack of initial stability. I didn't find this too noticeable in the smaller team since I previously paddled a Detonator for several years. With the heavier team (Taniwha and myself) I found the stability difficult in the pushy water we had and we always nearly dipped the inside gunwale when leaning to during an eddy turn. I think it's a good boat, but I prefered the Vertige X. Some of this may be realted to general metnal state at the time though

Hope this helps,

Matt

Never paddled the Vertige X, but the Blast in my opinion is not a good idea to get into tandem paddling. Despite experience in other boats it took us (80 and 50 kg) nearly one complete season to get familiar with it.
Now it handles great, carves very good and allows a new way of tandem paddling. We feel very comfortable in it up to grade III-IV
See pics (the first four) of our latest surf here:
http://www.bushpaddler.de/Salza.htm

Florian

I've paddled the vertige x with matt. It found it very dry, for the water level that we had on that river. But as we are both small persons, things may change for people a little bit heavier than we are.
Anyway, it was very stable and it has no surprises. I liked it very much. I think it's ok for beginners, and it's still fun for others.

400-410 pounds total for gear plus bodies racing.