C-Forum

Surely somebody has paddled one by now and can give a review
The pics at ASCI look good! I'm thinking it got in an Upper Yough run by now? Reports????? Inquiring minds need to know

I cant tell you about those good paddlers and what they think, but I squeezed my fat butt into Smerda's personal decked L'edge and took a loop at ASCI.

ME = 6' 230 lbs
class 3-4 paddler in my nitro, dabbling in c1's and (formally my) skeeter on class 3
first off, I needed to carve some foam to fit properly however it was a smaller person's boat and I had to "deal with it"
so, huvering my butt about an inch above the saddle, I took off thru the ASCI course at full tubes(personal first descent) following PAC who hade everything look easy.

first thoughts...I ddnt find the waterpark very fun at all. Strong swirling eddies and judging eyes of curious onlookers made for an intamidating demo ride. I slide all around like an oiled frog crowd-surfin at Lalapalooza.

secound thoughts, "holy crap Im a still upright and havnt even tried the secoundary stability yet!"

the boat needs to be driven, but Id say its fastr then a fly little slower than the skeeter(dry, but me in a skeeter is never dry)

I took all the worse lines bouncin down half the course (remember huvering over saddle, plus Im a lowsy paddler) and was only half full of water.
when I was comfortable that the swirly eddies wouldnt dump me in a hole, I rolled and came up with "gasp!"three inches of water

for my size I kinda wish it was a little longer, only to increase the speed, but if i paddled more efficiently...
long story short, I sold the skeeter am will sell a few more boats to build the funds to buy a L'edge.

Well about 30 of us down here wish we could give you a review of one, we only have the Russel Fork and Ocoee to try it on. Maybe it is only made for the race course.

should have a report for us when he gets back from Wisc with his new L'edge. He texted me that it is a SAAAWEAT vessel!

sweat vessel?

I put up a short video of Craig's Friday run of the final gates (easy, but still a PITA) in the open version of the L'Edge.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-nU1NU8Ia0

I got to take one down the Upper Yough on Friday. Let me start by saying I don't have much experience in terms of "real" open boats to compare it to- it was the first time I paddled a "real" canoe down anything hard. But I can say for sure that it felt right to me. It was stable, responsive, wanted to stay on top of the water, boofed well, seemed to accelerate well, stayed fairly dry... all it all, a really nice river running boat, kept a smile on my face the whole time. I pushed it pretty hard, running a lot of the harder lines that I run in K-1 (note: the l'edge is wider than the race crack above triple drop) and felt comfortable and in control. I missed a few lines, but the boat took care of me when I did. The only things I didn't like was the footpegs were mounted too low for my liking, and it wasn't as playful as I'd like for an all-round boat- but what I'd say qualifies as playful is a lot different from what most open boaters would.

Jeremy

Rolls good. comes up with 4-5inchs of water with a snappy roll. I believe the decked version comes up with even less.

Stable. Accelerates faster than a Detonator. Maybe a tad faster than a prelude

SAAWEEET!!! is how Kanur worded it.

From the video it look like it will do snappy eddy turns..... possibly a tad slow compared to the Ocoee??

Thanks for the video! And for Esquif being cutting edge on the OC boater scene!

This boat is going to sell like hotcakes. Esquif continues to develop new boats and is dominating the market. I'd like to see a U.S. manufacturer do well, but none of them seem to be interested. Thanks for showing interest in the whitewater market, Esquif.

I paddled a lap in the open version - very stable, negated a lot of the swirlies to me, fast for it's length, snappy turns/carving, very dry when paddled "sensibly", understandably wet when punching holes head on (and leaning forward), I rolled up with 6"+ and it was a bit of a handful. Later I rolled (but didn't take a lap) the decked version - came up with 3" of water. Very nice!

My initial review after trying it on the slalom course is that it is very stable, dry and agile.

I'm hoping to take it out to the green this weekend. I will post a full review with video once I make it out.

It is SWEEEEETT!

more tomorrow

Hear are the responses from 3 Juniors at Nationals...
"Awsome"
"That is SO much fun!"
"Way cool!"
More of a review later ... with some video of the three in action (hopefully)!

Very cool boat....but oh so expensive, expensive

Like Tony B, the tight outfitting kept my butt about an inch above the saddle so stability and control were compromised. Regardless, it surfed real well and faster than my s-fly.

Did I say it is expensive? I wish you well, Tony, on selling all your boats so you can afford this one.

.....had a ball at ASCI once I figured out that there no consequences from flipping. Definitely got my $25 worth playing the holes and multiple runs. It was a perfectly hot n sunny day n wld definitely go again maybe once a year w/similar conditions.




Big Al