L'edge vs. Blackfly Octane 85

[Wendy]

When my weight was at 220# the Blink was awesome in big water and on flats. Now 40 pounds lighter the Blink is still incredibly awesome, light, dry, nimble, and fast for a boat it's length.

[JimW]

I kind of feel like I have hijacked the thread now (sorry).

Some positive stuff about the Blink there, 220 lbs is about my minimum weight and I have to work some to get back there again but it sounds like I would mostly get on fine with it.

I'm paddling an Ocoee at the moment so the transition will probably be OK.

I should probably explain big water and flats a little more - I'm going back to the Grand Canyon next year and trying to decide if I'm going to revert to kayak, or take a canoe again. The Whitesell Piranha I rented last time was great, really easy to get on with and looked after me pretty good, but it is huge, and fairly heavy. OK some of the weight was down to the way the pump was fitted and the fact that the airbags were too short so I filled space with dry bags to make up for it. It seemed fine on the river but for the 2 rapids I decided to portage it was just too much, I was also pretty exhausted at the end of every day, which was partly due to pace, partly head wind and partly because I was hauling around much more weight than I'm accustomed to.
It was also a constant worry for the crew because if anything happened to me it would have had to be strapped to a raft for the rest of the trip (did the final day on a raft because it was mostly flat), which is kind of awkward with a 14' boat, but easy with kayak sized boats - for various reasons there were often 1 or 2 kayaks strapped to rafts on that trip.

So if I can convince myself that I can paddle 200 miles in a Blink, I might be able to formulate a plan.

How stable is it for fidgeting around in - I can't paddle for more than a few minutes on the flat locked in and usually wriggle out of my straps so I can paddle out of the saddle for periods - in the Whitesell I could sit on the thwart and stretch my legs but that's not possible in my Ocoee and I don't expect it in any other boat, but the Ocoee has plenty of stability for fidgeting short of sitting on the thwart!

My need to fidget kind of rules C1 out, plus I suck at it!
If I decide to take a kayak again I may well work on a conversion so I can switch between kayak and C1 day to day, sneak the parts I'm not using into a raft

I realise of course that there are many other boats more suited to canyon style of paddling, but the Blink will more suitable for paddling back home, where to be honest the Ocoee is a bit of a handful!

[Pejibaye]

Thanks, everyone. Jim and I may be at the opposite ends of the scale, but the advice has been helpful to both of us. I should have said at the beginning that I'm looking at the L'edge Light, by the way, not the old L'edge. I'd love to try the Blink, so would welcome a PM from any owner living in the southeast US. I'm still dithering, and will stick with my Outrage until I can try all these new ideas and figure out whether I'll grow (HAH!) or whether one of the companies is willing to offer outfitting for short people.

[Mikey B]

Pejibaye, one other nice thing about the Blink is you could have Kaz put the gunnels on an inch lower to lower the sheerline when building it. I know Wendy has one down that way and has let many test drive hers

[magicmike]

Pejibaye- at your size, you might look into a Spanish Fly. - M-

[Pejibaye]

Painboater -- Gee, why that name for a c-boater?? I will consider both the Spanish Fly and the C-boat ideas, especially the decked boat, as it is probably a more realistic idea than an open plastic boat.

[kaz]

Mikey B would know a thing or two about the Blink/Stinkeye. It's his design!

[Pejibaye]

By the way, I live in Tellico Plains, so if any of you still reading this string need help while you're at ALF, send me a PM. Thanks for your help!

[kimmieOC1]

[Wendy]

I totally concur with Kimmie for we short legged folks ( 5 3 1/2 inches). The Spanish Fly is the easiest one to carry of all these boats for our height. I made foam decks on mine that kept it dryer combined with a pump- fantastic boat.

[Pejibaye]

Ah, the delights of being short. I buy petite jeans and roll the legs up. Thanks the advice on the Spanish Fly. I may have seen you on the SE rivers while in my Outrage.

[insolence]

if you're that short n small, you could really check out the Prelude.

It's a joy to paddle, it's really effortless. The 85 is not as nimble nor as performant or fun in my eyes and the l'edge is more a boat for bigger people

Many People say the Prelude is unstable, but honestly speaking, at that size you just do not need so much stability. In the opposite, too much stability can hold you back.

[Pejibaye]

I paddled a Prelude during an NOC class and liked it. If I had not already owned an Outrage, I probably would have bought one. Still dithering ...