An Option for Prelude paddlers

[milkman]

My favorite canoe for the last 5 or 6 years has been the Esquif Prelude, but with the recent closure of Esquif, the future of the Prelude is in doubt. There's always the chance someone else will decide to pick up the mold and manufacture it. After all, the Prelude was first made by Savage, then Pyranha, and lastly Esquif. But I've had other recent issues with the boat. My wife and I have 5 Preludes, 4 of which have cracked in the last 6 months and two of which have cracked twice now in that time period. Only one of the cracks was legitimate in my mind--a bad eddy move in which I ended up sitting on a very sharp rock. As a result, my confidence in the boat as manufactured by Esquif has suffered.

Always curious about the Blackfly Option, but having none to try out here in Oregon, I finally pulled the trigger and bought one. Last weekend was my first paddle in it. Here are my impressions:

I think it makes a great Prelude replacement. It has more primary stability than the Prelude, but the stabilitiy doesn't get in the way of responsiveness. The boat spins as easily or even easier than the Prelude. When you turn your head, the boat almost seems to follow. When you stop paddling, the Option's speed drops off faster, but acceleration seems as good as the Prelude. I paddled a familiar river and was trying a lot of familiar moves and making them just fine. Caught the usual number of waves on the fly. The boat is a surf machine--exactly what you'd expect from a designer who is a freestyle OC1 champ--and the shorter length and spininess makes it easy to crank back on a wave with a draw or spin in a hole. The boat makes snappy eddy moves and feels solid and reliable when using the offside edge. The boat is drier than the Prelude with its more bulbous bow. Lots of degrees of secondary. Still have more to do on evaluating the carving characteristics. The boat inspires confidence--you feel like you can bomb through things like big swirly currents. I took it though a snaky S curve of boily current and there was a more secure feeling than I would have had with the Prelude.

As for its build, the Option is definitely superior. The plastic is thicker and has more of a gloss to it that suggests a greater hardness then the floppy, soft Prelude hull. Surprisingly the boat isn't that much heavier. Using a bathroom scale with me standing on it and wearing the boat on my head, the Prelude was about 47 pounds stripped down to just the bulkhead and hull and the Option was about 50 pounds. Not sure how Blackfly managed that since the hull is 2.5" wider. Granted, the Option is about 8" or so shorter, but it also seems taller.

All in all, I'm extremely happy with the canoe.

So here's the $1500 question: If Preludes were still made and made better than the current rendition which boat would I choose? Hard decision,but after just one day on the river, I think I'd have to have at least one of each.

Kudos to Blackfly for making such a great canoe. I look forward to paddling it for years.

[magicmike]

BLACKFLY FOR LIFE!

[yarnellboat]

I'm sure Blackfly will be thrilled that they've cornered the Prelude market

Thanks for the comparison. Glad you're lovin' the new ride.

I wish Blackly had something other than the Octane 91 for heavier folks. Anxious to know what will come to replace the L'Edge Lite.

Pat.

[cheajack]

Get a Skeeter if you can find one

[chuck naill]

I'm sure Blackfly will be thrilled that they've cornered the Prelude market

Thanks for the comparison. Glad you're lovin' the new ride.

I wish Blackly had something other than the Octane 91 for heavier folks. Anxious to know what will come to replace the L'Edge Lite.

Pat.

The newly designed Big Octane may be what you would like.

[JimW]

I've never tried a Prelude but I had a go in Mat's Option in Corsica on the Lower Vecchio (3-4, never done it before) and found it instantly easy to get along with. The river was kind of low volume with lots of bouncing off rocks and small bouldery drops so I never had any need to try and find out how fast it is, but it was (obviously) much easier to manouevre around stuff than my Ocoee. I only fell out of it once, when it spun sideways at the lip of a small drop and I went over as it went over - I hadn't got used to Mat's outfitting so fell out before I could try a roll.

Pat (Yarnellboat) - I'm around 110kg (240 lbs?) (at the moment, should be less) and didn't feel I was suffering a performance penalty in the Option. I've also looked at a 92 and tried to imagine it as a 91 and just feel that it is too much boat whatever people say - obviously I didn't try it because there was no saddle in the right place, it just looked like a bear to solo. I reckon it would be worth trying to meet Milkman in the middle some time to try his Option in case you find it works perfectly well for you

[DougB]

I wish Blackly had something other than the Octane 91 for heavier folks. Anxious to know what will come to replace the L'Edge Lite.

Pat, I don't think we've seen the last L'edge. I doubt this this mold is going into the garbage or being mothballed for long. It will be auctioned off it hasn't already. Someone will pick it up and start making the boat again.

[milkman]

I reckon it would be worth trying to meet Milkman in the middle some time to try his Option in case you find it works perfectly well for you

A lot of West Coasters will be wanting to try the Option now that we're in the AR (after Royalex) age. The one downside of bulkhead outfitting though is that it's one size fits one. To try my boat, you have to be pretty close to the owner's build. A good friend tried my Option last weekend with his rear hovering about 1.5 inches about the seat. Not a great test, but he made a really good go of it and put the boat through its paces. Meanwhile I was paddling his L'edge with too much space around my legs. I'd say of the two of us, I had it easier.

[Wendy]

Yarnell I think the Condor may be what you are wanting. It is in prototype stage, but there are several around in the East to try.

[JimW]

I reckon it would be worth trying to meet Milkman in the middle some time to try his Option in case you find it works perfectly well for you

A lot of West Coasters will be wanting to try the Option now that we're in the AR (after Royalex) age. The one downside of bulkhead outfitting though is that it's one size fits one. To try my boat, you have to be pretty close to the owner's build. A good friend tried my Option last weekend with his rear hovering about 1.5 inches about the seat. Not a great test, but he made a really good go of it and put the boat through its paces. Meanwhile I was paddling his L'edge with too much space around my legs. I'd say of the two of us, I had it easier.

Good point, that's partly why I fell out of Mat's, although I am probably close enough in size to get as secure as he does, I like to do it slightly differently...

[yarnellboat]

Are the Condor and the new "Big Octane" the same thing?

Not that I'm in any big rush to replace my Ocoee, I paddle so little it will last even with delaminated chines, but all this gushing about how the new boats like the L'Edge Lite and Option provide more stability and inspire more confident, aggressive paddling is tempting me.

Good to know the Option didn't feel wrong at 110kg.

I'd love to paddle with Milkman and crew on those beautiful runs (even though I almost certainly can't fit into his outfitting), but with my parenting duties Portland has been so-close-yet-so-far.

Pat.

[milkman]

Not sure if the Big Octane is synonymous with the Condor. I have seen some videos of the Condor in action and I must admit it looks pretty cool. I think it's 11' long, which by today's standards makes it a long boat. The advantage is going to be hull speed.

After paddling the Prelude so long, primary stability is a new thing again to me. I'm seeing some of its advantages. It's definitely a different feel on the water. The Prelude was so influenced by everything going on in the water and you could feel it and respond to it instantly. With the Option, I sometimes feel I am floating right over stuff without feeling it. The advantage comes when I go over really swirly, boily stuff. The Option isn't as easily affected. I could see where the Option would give a feeling of more command over class 4 stuff that you might have to be more on your toes with in the Prelude. The commonality between the boats is both feel very nimble and ready to go anywhere you point them.

You can tell that the Option was designed by a freestyle rodeo champ. It wants to play in waves and holes. And part of what makes it so good for that is the primary stability. I loved the Prelude in a front surf, but in sidesurf and spins in holes, you really had to be in tune with what was going on in order not to flip. The Option is more forgiving and encourages you more to play around. It's like of like the L'edge in that aspect--a fact that was pointed out to me by Buster Blue.

[RodeoClown]

The "Big Octane" is the Octane 91/92. The only things that will be 'new' about it are the tumblehome and gunwales are re-styled to make it look similar to the Octane 85 (the "little Octane") and it'll be out of an aluminum mold.

The condor is its own beast, and is still very much in development. While the first prototype was a stretched out Octane, and it worked very well, I'm purposely trying to make it not be an Octane 110. Not because there would be anything wrong with an octane 110, but because I want to learn something from the project and make it better than an octane 110.

[JimW]

As I recall from the stuff on FB the Condor is going to be primarily for big volume rather than steep creeking, I think it already did (or is already scheduled for) a run down the grand canyon.

It piqued my interest because I'm booked for a trip in sept 2016 and already trying to decide what boat I want to take (OC1 or kayak playboat, or kayak converted to C1 with the bits to convert it back if it's too hard going as C1 - I don't have much stamina in C1 at the moment!).

[yarnellboat]

Thanks Jeremy, and good luck with making the Condor!

I took a look at the website again. Re-styling the big Octane is probably a good idea, I admit that its looks - a bathtub with a flat-back for an outboard - put me off a bit. Ultimately, I think the Octane 91 is too solid for my paddling style - I do more river-running slalom-style in class III than bombing/boofing through class III-IV, and (in a very short trial in an eddy) I found the 91 difficult to tilt, so it seemed to be missing a "feel" that I like about paddling the Ocoee.

Not being sure where my interests and my weight fit between the Option, 85 and 91 (and now Condor), I figured a L'Edge Lite was likely my next boat. Good to hear the Option might handle my weight OK too! I'll keep thinking about the Option and Condor. Or, maybe I'll come to embrace boofing through steeper drops and come to need and love the stability of a big Octane!

Keep up the great work Jeremy!

Regards, Pat.