Sith review

[Mike W.]

Me: average C-1 paddler, 190lbs.
River: French Broad, section 9, flowing 1,700cfs

The Sith is a great river runner. I was pleasantly surprised with the speed. It was much faster than I expected for a boat this short, wide & with the ends turned up this much. I also expected the planing disk on the hull to be a real drag. It was easy to put the boat where I wanted it mid-rapid. I was able to catch waves on the fly (something I’m not good at). I turned upstream above a wave & started paddling, expecting to drift back into the wave. I looked around & found that I was going upstream. Cool. The eddy turns (both carved & pivoted) are better than anything I’ve paddled. I got stern-squirted a couple of times in rapids, but I think the boat was trimmed a little stern heavy & a little foam on the back-rest would easily fix that problem. The boat is extremely stable, but it is wide so you expect that. The first time I rolled it I thought it was hard, but after a few rolls it felt fine. Surfing was smooth & predictable. It’s easy to put it where you want it on a wave. I found it hard to spin, but I’m no rodeo star either. One really neat thing I noticed while surfing was that not long after establishing a front-surf I could feel the stern sink into a blast position.

I liked the outfitting. I’m not sure how the boats are delivered, but this one had thigh-straps, a lap-belt & bulkhead. I felt real connected to the boat. I think the cockpit rim is a little larger than “slalom sized”. I was able to get my skirt on it, but it was real tight.

The boat is very stiff, which I liked. There was no sagging when I leaned on the deck getting in & out of the boat. There were some small bubbles in the finish & a weird texture if you look closely. The seams were rough. I think if you paddled it much the seams would wear on your shaft & shaft hand.

Overall it’s a real nice play/river runner. Just don’t expect it to look like something from PS Composites.

Thanks to Bill for letting me paddle the Sith.
http://cboats.net/recboats/sith.shtml

[PAC]

Mike I liked the boat a lot too! Stable and fast with plenty of play. Has nice edges and is very light for those hike out!
Thanks to Bill for the loan on it as well!

Nice review too!