C-Forum

looking into buying one in spring. just curious to hear any reports on how it handles bigger water? i love creeks but like to get out on larger volume stuff too, just wondering if this is a do-it all boat. thanks

matt hagan

Check with us Sat. night. It will be my second time in the second edition and Randy will just have finished his first trip in one.

Louie,
Ask Randy to bring that new boat through Austin, so we can get a look at it.
No water now, but we just had 12" of hurricane rain and the creeks were rockn. Barton @ 5000cfs, San Gabriel @ 30,000cfs, ect.

well lets hear it can we?

i seen one open go over sweet's fall sun. afetrnoon, a zoom that rolled w/ it.. the ledge just skipped ~

guess im not gonna get any answers?

I took mine on the Lower Gauley, had only been there once last Fest, was white-knuckling it the whole time, in the Nitro.

came back this year in my newly aquired Ledge and felt so in control and stable as all hades.

Got yelled at a few times that I was "pushing it" on some sketchy lines with that Magical Boat.

Mattbcha....I too got to run the Upper Gauley this past weekend for the first time in my brand new L'edge. Not having boated hardly at all for the last 5 years and climbing in a boat I hadn't paddled before... then to put on the UG made me very nervous....well maybe terrified might be more apt.

As soon as I got in the boat I could feel the stability. Starting out I would work at catching eddies both on and offside. I would (as I got more comfortable) drive into an eddy on my offside on a cross and drop the outside edge "hard" and NEVER felt like I might go over and never even felt shaky. At the top of the run we were all knotted together...I could be right on someone's butt coming into an eddy and knowing they're thinking they're about to get T-boned...drop an edge, spin and head right back out, not even coming close to hitting them.

Dry...I couldn't get any water in the boat. I had the decked version that day and have since cut the decks off and have yet to paddle it as such but it's obvious this boat is going to run dry.

Speed....I never understand why everyone seems so concerned with speed. We're not buying these boats strictly as slalom racers. We're buying these boats to run WW. I guess because I boat more in the SE I'm more for the ability to come off a drop, change direction instantly and beat a path for the next slot or eddy. This boat will accelerate when you need it to and it's easy to hold a line. I felt 4 strokes off all day probably because I was rusty, my lack of skill, and the push of the river, but always got where I needed to be.

I never rolled it, but Philippe(sp?) the Esquif guy was doing hand rolls at the put-in with what seemed like little effort. And Roy C. came up like a shot when I saw him roll. The boat is so stable both primary and secondary that I never felt like I was even about to get tossed....well I did have to whip out the "git down low brace" at Sweet's.

Because I was rusty I did no surfing or playing...I just wanted to make it down in one piece. But I will say that because I felt so comfortable in the boat it made for a fun instead of nerve wracking day.

Overall...I've never been in a boat that I felt so comfortable in right off. The boat just feels "right". Truly. Bigger person, smaller person, I think will feel just fine. Sure you might have to cut down the sides or whatever to make it yours. The decked version seemed a little heavy, but hey...we don't live in a perfect world...hades, we should thank Esquif for wanting to produce a durable boat...get a decked and cut out the top like I did...buy an open...whatever floats your boat.

"High performance" and "user friendly" should be an oxymoron. Not when it comes to the L'edge, it truly is both in my opinion.

Thanks Craig and Esquif for what you've accomplished.

I guess I should have stated this at the beginning. I am just a "mere mortal". I'm not Craig, Dooley, Eli, Roy or anyone else. I'm just another paddler trying to have a good time.

thanks guys! anybody have 2 grand i can borrow?

biggreenjefe wrote:I guess I should have stated this at the beginning. I am just a "mere mortal". I'm not Craig, Dooley, Eli, Roy or anyone else. I'm just another paddler trying to have a good time.

Mere mortals do NOT paddle the UG in OC1!

Paddle about any river you can imagine. The people who have run the UG in OC 1 &2's would probably amaze us all.
Bill