The New 2010 Allstar. My review.......

I have been paddling a 2008 Allstar for nearly a year. From the first time I paddled it i thought it was the best thing ever, balanced cartwheels, big loops, comfortable enough to paddle for hours on end, easy to roll. The I had it on a wave and it was a dream, loose and easy to throw round. Essentially Its perfection in a boat.

So naturally when I heard that Jackson kayak were designing the boat I was very excited. Jackson kayak released a bit of hype and some pictures and videos of a boat that looked tricks would go bigger and with ease.

Two weeks ago the boats came into the UK, since I work at Whitewater:The canoe centre, I managed to blag the first go in the demo boat. Looking at the boat on the ground it is much shorter and fatter than my Allstar. When I sat in the boat I found my knees higher and closer together than what I was used to.

The new Allstar laid nose to nose with the 07-09 Allstar

When I got it on the water I could feel how much shorter the boat was. The Shorter tail combined with additional volume meant that it not only looped big, but loops came round easier. However, this boats lack of length meant that it cartwheeled faster than speeding train, so fast that cartwheel felt absolutely out of control. To add to the feeling of uncontrollability the seating position makes the boat feel continuously off-balance, especially when doing stalls or cartwheels.

Going BIG

Granted I have only been able to paddle these at Chertsey, which is not exactly a world-class play feature. However even my existing Allstar still feels much Better. Im my opinion Jackson Kayak had achieved perfection in a playboat with the 07-09 series Allstars. The new Allstar does loop BIG, but the boat length and seating position combines to make a boat that I don’t feel is as good as the older series of Allstar. The old adage of ‘If it aint broke don’t fix it’ springs to mind after paddling the 2010 Allstar.

Stay safe, paddle new boats when you can, and make your own opinions....

Seth

Open Canoeing. Its not just for old people.....

Last weekend a few of my friends and I headed up to North Wales to do our Open Canoe Four Star training. I have had my Open Canoe Three Star for a little while now and when I got the opportunity to to more I jumped right in. The training took place on the River Dee, and was run by GETAFIX. I was quite impressed my the amount of stuff we could cover in two days. As well as Honing our Personal skills we also learned about leading groups, different ways to run a river, poling, Lining and Tracking (This is where you use throwlines to guide your boat upstream through a rapid from the bank) and much more. Much fun was had by all, especially with many comedy swims happening all round (mostly by me).

Heres me goin for an eddy.

We travelled up on friday evening straight after work, luckily I wasn't driving as it was a trip which took five hours. When we arrived in Bala we were already booked into a bunkhouse. I can't remember the name of the place but it was awesome, Fifteen pounds per night including three meals a day. The only downside was that it was quite a way out of town. Oh well.

Setting up for another eddy.

Trying to catch the last wave.

Over the course of the two day the course was tailored to our needs by our coach Richard from GETAFIX. I think the course was run very well. Big thanks to them for sorting us out.

If your going open canoeing in the future, let me know as im always up for another trip.

Keep safe