I wanted to wait until I got some quality
time in my new All-Star to write an appropriate review. Well,
the Ottawa has big waves, flatwater, small, and large holes,
and just about everything in between. It even has some short
creek runs that come in at high water.
Performance Goals for All-Star:
1.
Be the ultimate playboating machine
a.
Flatwater: Super
Fast, easily initiated ends, easy to bow and stern stall,
easy to flatwater loop and go big on the loop.
b.
Waves:
i. Be as fast as possible where you
don’t have to defend the bow or stern all of the
time from pearling
ii. Super loose
iii. Go HUGE on edge to edge or straight
on bounces
iv. Do lightning quick turns for moves
such as the Helix, flip turn, etc.
v. Carve across the face with speed
vi. Make small waves really easy to
blunt, spin, helix, donkey flip, etc.
c.
Holes
i. Huge, easy loops
ii. Super fast, easy to initiate cartwheel
moves
iii. Easy to pirouette and change
edges for splits, tricky woo, phonix monkey, etc.
iv. Easy to initiate with low edge
dropped for moves like the McNasty, Lunar orbit, super
clean cartwheels, etc.
d.
Comfort
i. Fit the appropriate range of paddlers
with maximum comfort and control
ii. Weigh less for quick moves and
ease of moves
Results:
Overall- Five Stars+ , Yes, I am evaluating
a design by David Knight and myself, so yes, you could say
I am biased, but it is easy enough to test yourself.
Noteable points:
The boat initiates so easy like
a low volume boat, and flatwaters incredibly easy and fast.
The lean cleans are like ‘butter’.
The easiest flatwater loop I have ever
known. Want to learn to flatwater loop (and transfer to
holes this spring too?) then the All-Star is perfect. You
can get into a bow stall SUPER EASY, it stalls really easy,
and it loops like no boat before it!
It is really fast, but still bounces
like a high rockered boat on waves. It took me a day to
get the timing down to really go big in it on small waves
and three days to get it down on big waves from the Fun.
The edge to edge lift you get is crazy, where you can lift
the bow way over your head before throwing blunts.
Cleaning the stern is so easy that it
is a joke. I don’t know if I will ever use a stern
initiation stroke again! It is so fast and smooth that I
found it as easy to do a clean cartwheel as a normal one.
The boat goes huge on the loops! It
has a small slicey boat feel on the ends with a big boat
feel on the loops, front or back.
The top end size person to paddle the
All-Star is about the same as the Fun (34, 12)
Summary:
Oh yea: Just in time for US Team Trials
this year on the Black River in NY. This boat is the ticket
to ride. The Star and Super Star will be coming out late summer
also, so a size for everybody.
I will do a boat recommendation article
by body size and paddling style soon.
