GEAR
Paddling the Blue Hole Sequel
By Rick Hill
Short, whitewater open boats are privy to high-performance design innovations every bit as much as their rodeo kayak counterparts. Like the latter, whitewater open boats--packed with flotation and outfitted with saddles or pedestals and thigh retainer systems--are designed to carve, surf and play. Here's a look at one of the hottest new solo open-boats to arrive on the market: the Blue Hole Sequel.
Outfitting
For this review we used Mohawk outfitting--an excellent system with a one-piece thigh retainer and large foam saddle. Blue Hole ships boats sans outfitting, so do a little experimenting. The canoe must be trimmed and the outfitting must be installed properly-work with someone who has outfitted canoes before and visit the manufacturer's web page. Trim the Sequel neutral or slightly bow forward. For information on Mohawk outfitting call (800) 686-6429 or visit www.mohawkcanoes.com. Other sources for C-1 outfitting systems are Dagger Canoe Co., (423) 882-0404; Perception, (800) 59-KAYAK; and Northwest River Supplies, (800) 635-5202.
Blue Hole Data
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Blue Hole Canoe Co.
18079-B James Madison Hwy.
Gordonsville, VA 22942
(540) 832-7855 |
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The Boat
I gripped the gunnels with white knuckles as I entered this bouncy-ball boat sitting in the eddy. Then I picked up my paddle and bow-drew out into the current. As I peeled out the secondary stability found me before I went looking for it. Moments later a lean and an easy cross-bow stroke brought me into the next eddy. Designed by Hendersonville, N.C.'s David Scherrill, the Sequel is short and quick--with only 15" of depth and 27" of width, you're not surrounded by a lot of canoe. Initial tippiness, however, becomes gleeful carving, and the extreme rocker and planing hull quickly became my surfing partners. It also didn't take long to notice the boat's tall sidewalls, and small chine and tumblehome; all this added up to solid secondary stability and poor primary stability.
Even though we're not die-hard open canoe playboaters, within a week of getting in the Sequel my friend Gary and I were both surfing and flatspinning on our local Class III run. The comfortable outfitting (experiment with saddle height) and responsive hull make it a pleasure to paddle for evenings on end. The Sequel is so fun, in fact, that Gary "borrowed" the boat for a week of paddling on the nearby Class III-V Cache la Poudre River, leaving me stranded. When he returned (to a brief chastising) he shed some light on how the Sequel handles in big water: you need to paddle it hard--it will slip and slide down waves and swamp if you are not on top of your game.
Gordon Black, head of instruction at Bryson City, N.C.-based Nantahala Outdoor Center, is a paddler on the advanced side of the spectrum who has paddled the Sequel for both teaching and fun. "It is better suited for smaller paddlers," he says, "but it is a very fun canoe." The best way to sum it up, he adds, is to call it "a high performance, highly maneuverable, narrower canoe." He also says it's part of a new, lighter fleet of canoe that may draw considerable interest from the younger crowd.
And that's exactly where Gary and I came in. As for my experience, the Sequel made me a quick learner. The boat's narrowness allows taller paddlers like me (6'2") to muscle it around, which, according to Black, is important for solo open-boating, where finesse and strength come together to give increased play. I found the Sequel extremely maneuverable compared to many other designs I have paddled, and this feature dominates the design.
More than playboating newcomers like myself, however, will find a home in the Sequel. Doug Wipper, director of the Steamboat Springs (Colo.) Canoe School and owner of Canyon Canoeing Adventures, recommends the Sequel for intermediate to advanced paddlers under 180 pounds (like Gary and myself) and feels a pedestal, not a saddle, best suits the boat's slim design. "It's an extremely maneuverable creek boat with fair to average acceleration," he says. "But it's a wet boat--especially on small, choppy, steep waves."
However wet it is, the Sequel, currently being paddled competitively in open canoe slalom and rodeo events, is far from being washed up. It is rugged and durable yet lighter, at 40 lbs., than several other playboats in its class. And its durability is right on par with its maneuverability. Between my and Gary and Doug's test drives, the Sequel we got our hands on went down the river over a hundred days at all water levels, and the only maintenance it needed was on the outfitting.
--ahb