I agree with all except the Rival and the Viper. Although I was pushing
230 when I was paddling the Rival, I always felt that it didn't perform
well for anyone that was much over 180 lbs and I sold it and took up
kayaking. While I personally like the Viper, I wouldn't recommend it
for a person starting out.

Funny, I like the Viper and the Zoom, don't like the Ocoee or the
Detonator.

I would also add the Esquif Nitro and for a 200 lber, the Outrage XL.

Larry


Oci-One Kanubi wrote:
I don't care what the other Richard H. says, the Bluehole is just
*barely* a whitewater boat. If it is 13' it is probably a Sunburst I,
which is *really* obsolete. Sunburst II (rev. 2.0, a total rethinking
of the concept of whitewater canoe) has a cult following... of
old-school whitewater trippers; that is, people who do multiday trip on
Canadian Class II-III rivers. It is fine for surviving easy whitewater
-- just getting down upright and in one piece -- but it is not well
suited to learning boat-control and technical maneuvering for elegant
whitewater running.

The Genesis must be at least 10 years old, because (I believe) Dagger
only made them from around '93 to '95. Pretty good boat, but designed
for running big water and not so well suited for technical work.

Probe and Caption are pretty fair whitewater boats, but they are true
barges for solo use for anyone under 250#.

Keep looking for a 12' boat, something in the 12'2" to 12'8" range.
This includes all the less extreme modern whitewater boats: Probe and
Probe II, Viper, Rival, Impulse, Prodigy, Outrage. Anything the size
of the Genesis (13 1/2' or so) or longer is either obsolete or designed
as a tandem; in either case not really suitable to learning whitewater
skills.


-Richard, His Kanubic Travesty
--

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Richard Hopley Winston-Salem, NC, USA
rhopley[at]earthlink[dot]net
Nothing really matters except Boats, Sex, and Rock'n'Roll
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