Thursday, September 3, 2009

Chick Boat for Creek'n-Testing out the Fluid Solo for Size

Testing out the small FLUID Solo for size
-brought to us by Maria Noakes


So there I was with no boat and its raining, what to do? Indebted to Juliet forever she loans me the Fluid Solo. It happens to be orange, my favorite color.

It looks great but how will it perform? My initial impression is it’s a roundy creeker. But then to your surprise you lift the boat up and find those cute little chines running under there and what do you know, a semi displacement hull awaits you.


For those if you who know me, I am a true medium chick in the sense of medium. 5ft 5 inches, Medium build, medium centre of gravity etc…


I leap into the Solo in haste, (after all, it is still raining!) Its easily adjustable, but being used to my Hefe couch, the seat feels rather hard and unforgiving under my bottom.

Phaffing around in the eddy, it immediately feels like it is the perfect size for me. It spins on a dime. I know it is a boat I can control with ease.


And that’s not all. I discover what a wicked little boofer the Solo is, it lands perfectly, whether I am landing flat or need to carve through a boil. It tracks into eddies through waves with ease and is remarkably light and maneuverable. I really like a boat that I can rely on to hold its track and the solo does.

I felt stable and safe in this boat, a great boat for women in world where you often feel when you get in a creek boat, it’s likely to swallow you up whole.



Happy paddling in the Solo
Maria Noakes
A Happy Paddler


PS Translating the Kiwi word "phaffing" to American English: "Phaffing" is like cruising around, as Shaner says screwing around, so lets see....call it “paddling around in the eddy," would be a fine translation that all can cope with.

Another PS! Maria also wrote an awesome article about paddling through pregnancy.....

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