GEAR

There are Gods in the sport of whitewater playboating who do things that leave the mortals among us in awe.

They dance, skip and cartwheel across the water, while the rest of us are stuck on the surface. The best we can hope for is a momentary break in the surface to maybe get one, two or three ends, while the Gods are doing 20, 30, 40 ends at a time. It was hard to even imagine boating like the Gods...until now.

The first time I got in the X from Steamboat Springs, Colo.'s Wave Sport and pulled a four-point wavewheel on an eddy line, I knew I had, if only momentarily, joined the ranks of the elite. I could do moves that only top paddlers could do last summer. The problem is imagining what these top paddlers will do in the X when they get their hands on it. Although new boat designs are now months, instead of years, apart, Wave Sport's X has made a quantum leap. For the moment, at least, it seems to have taken the design lead and is pushing the envelope of what can be done in a kayak. The main things making it unique are concave bow and stern hulls and a planning hull that tapers to trapezoidal sidewalls via a concave chine.

The concept is not new--Wave Sport borrowed a page from the concave bottoms of the boardsurfing and windsurfing industries. The surfboard industry first used a concave bottom for nose-riding long boards. The windsurfing industry improved on this design with spoon-boards in the late '80s. The design feature was discarded after users found that at higher speeds the concave nose created too much lift. That, however, is exactly what cartwheeling kayakers want.

The first time I got in the X from Steamboat Springs, Colo.'s Wave Sport...I knew I had, if only momentarily, joined the ranks of the elite. I could do moves that only top paddlers could do last summer. The problem is imagining what these top paddlers will do in the X when they get their hands on it.

Concave bow and stern bottom decks also borrow a page from the aeronautical industry. "Bernoulli's effect," where air has to travel a longer distance over the top of a wing than the bottom in the same amount of time, creates a pressure variance which creates lift. The concave bow and stern decks of the X do much the same, lifting paddlers into a new realm of moves. The lift affects two areas of playboating. First, the short, flat waterline of most rodeo boats, designed to facilitate flat spins, causes water to pile-up which hampers speed. The use of concavity in conjunction with a flat bottom overcomes this by creating a low pressure area below the bow that sucks water away and allows the boat greater speed. The more you engage the nose concavity through forward speed, rotational speed or leaning, the more the bow wants to lift. Concavity also helps in horizontal and vertical moves, specifically surfing, flatspinning and cartwheeling.

The bottom line of this scientific jargon is that the X's ends release quickly, allowing even weekend warriors to perform one-stroke 360s, wavewheels, splitwheels, splat wheels, full loops and other rodeo moves. From the moment I jumped in the X and threw a five-point cartwheel into an eddy, I knew the sport had changed. Not for the Gods so much, but for us mortals.

The X benefits beginner and intermediate boaters as much as rodeo stars. Five boaters in an informal test were spellbound by the boat's ability to eke a half-day's enjoyment out of a minor, low-water pourover. Even though such boats as the Riot Hammer, Necky Jive, Perception 3-D and Dagger Vertigo could get vertical in the feature, it seemed none could match the X's ease of release and rotation. It was especially exciting to watch a 125-pound woman with only two year's experience initiate bow moves she never thought possible. While the X could not match the Hammer's tracking and ease of attainment moves, it was comparable to the longer (and slower-rotating) Jive, and faster (both in acceleration and top speed) than the Vertigo or Wave Sport Stubby. The limiting factors were experience, technique and paddle length.

The boat does have drawbacks. Even though cockpit room is ample and knee-brace placement ideal, tall paddlers (above 6'2") and those with large feet (size 10 or larger) will vividly remember the Japanese concept of foot binding. This can be remedied by custom-foam footblocks in lieu of footbraces. Taller, big-footed paddlers can look forward to the XL version of the X, which should increase the boat's speed. The X also is not made for extreme steep creeking. The low pressure areas created by the concave bow create the opposite effect you want entering the water from a 20-foot drop. The boat's lifting power spells flat landings and multiple-fused vertebrae. The other downfall is that, as with other playboats, the X has created a new vocabulary of design features. As well as looking at length, width and volume, users now have to add such terms as planing hull length and width, sidewall and bevel.

If you're like me, what you'll notice right away is the X's ability to release both ends from the surface bonds of the water and...fly. Before hopping in the X I couldn't do a wavewheel or seven-pointer on an eddyline, nor link flatspins to vertical cartwheels. In the X, I could do the tried-and-true moves, and learn new ones in as short as two days. I am excited again for one of the first times in my 23-year boating career--not just to get on the water, but to learn and experience something new. And I can't wait to see the results the X's innovations bring to other manufacturer's designs--and to the playboating Gods.

-- Jim Grossman