Spark & Zypher report.

[ChrisKelly]

I paddled both boats at GAF and liked them both a lot. No, that's wrong, I liked the Zypher and LOVED the Spark.
All the things Wayner said above seemed to be true of the Zypher and the material seems like the canoe of the future. I handled it and watched several different guys try to break it, all without success. I think Dave N got it done by running over it with his car. Now, as we all know, rivers have their own ways and I am sure that pretty soon we will hear of some river eating some Zypher but those incidents will be fewer then with ABS or Kevlar. I think within a few years Twintex will be the standard. Your average bow dimple will be a thing of the past. It may be that getting d-rings to stay in is still somewhat of an issue but that is easily solved by just glassing in tiedown points.
From a paddling perspective, it was fast and very predictible. I rolled it several times and after I remembered to pause a sec to let out the water dammed up by the big minicell saddle it came up nice and smooth. I liked the boat and will recomend it to new paddlers. I also that because it is so predictible, tough and has such a smooth roll, we wil be seeing a lot of it on creeks.

I put in with the Spark and Farabee and knew I was buying it before I got to Quarry. It is a rocket and turns really well. It is common knowledge that KAZ (who I have never met) is a wonderful boat designer and this is certainly proof. To have great speed, great turning ability and a very easy roll makes this an exceptional canoe. It is like a bad woman; makes ya wana do new stuff. Paddle one, I think you will like it too.
Chris Kelly

[Louie]

Sorry I got lost there, were you talkin about the new boat or the bad women?

[ChrisKelly]

[chuck naill]

What does a good woman make you want to do?

Thanks for the report.

cnaill

[ChrisKelly]

Louie.

dirty old open boaters!

[Helly]

Chris,
I am interested to know if you got to paddle the Taureau and what you thought of it?
And how does it rate on the bad woman scale? ha!

[sbroam]

My good woman should be glad I didn't go to GAF, I suspect I would have spent some of her money (and a lot of mine) on a new boat...

[ChrisKelly]

on the Ocoee. It is very responsive and has an easy roll but as a rule I don't care much for the little teeny play boats so that colors my opinion. Those who like the little boats say that the Taureau is a good one. I used to have a Skeeter and think I would like the Taureau better than it. Chris Kelly

[the great gonzo]

Well, I haven't paddles a Taureau myself yet, but 2 weeks ago a friend of mine, who is a diehard Ocoee fan, tried one on Otter Creek in Upstate NY and he liked it so much that he ordered one for the spring, so it's gotta be a good creeker. I definitely will have to give it a try.

martin a.k.a. The Great Gonzo

[Alden]

I paddled a Taureau very briefly, in moving water a few weeks ago and it seemed like a pretty good boat. I didn't really test it on anything gnarly, of course.

Also, as I was paddling it across the river, folks were looking at me due to the extremely small cockpit. "It's an open boat!" I told them. "Yeah, so is mine!" shouted a C-1er. "Look!" He pointed down to his spray skirt which had a small hole in it. "Mine's an open boat too!" he laughed.

Okay, so I made that story up. Still, I would like to propose a deal to all canoe companies who get it in their head that they want to make another one of these small open boats:

Just give it a regular frickin keyhole cockpit with a rim - that way C-1ers can put a skirt on it . . . and open boaters can simply go without a skirt and still call it an open boat! I mean, really, since open boaters in the past haven't been bothered by decreasing cockpit sizes, why not just keep going until we are talking about regular cockpits?

Finally, I set up a friend's Prijon Release as a C-1 playboat, and man! it is awesome!!!!!

Alden

[Helly]

or a OC-1 that responds more like a kayak....however, the ones I have tried (conversions) have such a short depth, that I can't hardly stand to sit in one......mostly 7inch seats.....I know three inches shouldn't make a big difference, but my legs can't take it!
I keep thinking there has to be a boat that I could have at least a 9 inch seat in....I think I could handle that better.

The dimensions on the taureau say the depth is 16 inches....but I don't know what seat height is in it....or if a 9 inch seat would throw off the balance so much that it would be too unstable.

[Mike W.]

I'm at 8" in the following boats:
Viper - full cut
Acrobat - 1/2" cut
Big EZ
Forplay
I think my new-to-me master cut Acrobat is ~7". This one keeps your attention though. The higher you are the better balance (or roll ) you need. To get to a lower seat or be comfortable for longer periods of time stretch every day & paddle a bunch.

[TommyC1]

I believe the Taureau that I tried (David Nickersons Demo) had a 9" saddle. It felt very stable to me.

Tommy

[sbroam]

Any pictures of the Zephyr's factory outfitting? E-mail 'em to me and I'll post them...

[billcanoes]

Would you prefer a bulkhead Zephyr, or saddle with straps?????

The bulkhead layup looked nice in my opinion.

Bill