My response is coming from a C1 perspective. I have been paddling a C1 for years and only occasionally paddle an open canoe, so my experiences may not exactly line up with yours. When I do paddle an open boat, it has mainly been my rather large Mad River ME (both solo and tandem). On the occasion when I have had the chance to try out and roll the smaller open boats (Ocoee, Nitro, etc.) I had been fairly successful.
My C1's were of the river running and play boat conversion variety. When I decided I wanted to get into creeking a little more seriously, I decided to buy the Taureau. I found it very stable (which I liked) but slow and not very exciting when surfing or playing, but that was to be expected. My main problem with it was that I was only getting about 50 % of my rolls whereas I never had a problem rolling any of my C1's. Plus when I was rolling the Taureau, it put a huge strain on my shoulder which was beginning to ache a lot following roll attempts. Since my rolls weren't 100%, I was becoming gun shy with the Taureau and was holding back on the difficulty of the creeks and the moves I was attempting. I found myself not doing the rivers or rapids with the boat, that I thought I should be able to do. I wasn't getting knocked over much but I was fearful I would blow a roll when it would be absolutely needed. I am fairly sure that the blame lies in my particular rolling technique. That the way I roll didn't meet what the shape of the boat demanded because others have no problem rolling it.
After two years of struggling with the Taureau and not getting anywhere I sold the boat and converted a Pyranha Burn this past winter. It was a great move for me. I found the Burn a tad less stable, but that doesn't matter. I have never missed a roll in it, including ones in aerated water, boils, and on dramatic eddy lines. Plus the Burn is more playful and fun. It surfs better and does better attainments. With all the confidence that a reliable roll and a predictable boat gave me, I stepped up the level of difficulty in the creeks I've done - knocking off rivers and rapids I've never attempted before. That being said, other boaters have had great experiences in the Taureau - it just wasn't me.
I had the same problem with rolling - until I changed my outfitting to "C1-outfitting". Now I´m very confident with the boat, maybe even a tad more than with my Remix.
To tighten up my outfitting in the Taureau, I temporarily added a lap belt. It helped with the rolling a wee bit, but made me extremely nervous running rivers. For my piece of mind, I had to remove it. I did think of adding thigh straps and in retrospect probably should have gone that route before giving up on the boat. My reasoning went along the lines, that since the lap belt only helped marginally, thigh straps while better, might not have made a huge difference. Again, if I had the foresight to put my difficulties with rolling the Taureau out on this board, and got your input, I might still be owning the boat.
The result? While out a bit of money, I am still happy with the Burn.
xmas0c1c1k1 wrote:So I paddle mainly c1 but am thinking about buying a taureau. I am just wondering how this boat stacks up against c1 creekers ie jefe, burn. I know the whole open cockpit is a huge difference but what is its performance like speed, stability, boof?
The Taureau is not a C-1 it is actually an OC-1, that is why the cockpit is larger and not meant to be skirted, but a few people have rigged skirts onto them. For your comparison this info is important to know. Taureau was built for a single blade where the majority of C-1's were originally designed as kayaks but paddlers converted them to single blade operation...