Canoe Review: Esquif Paradigm

I've had the chance to give the Paradigm a test run on a well known slalom area in Germany. As you probably know by now, I'm paddling a Viper11 and a prelude. So basically that's my reference.

 Here we go:

The paradigm is quite an exceptional canoe when it comes to length. With it's 3.29m (10.8ft) it's shorter then most whitewater canoes, yet longer then the extremest canoes. I think the paradigm has an interesting length for a whitewater canoe. Other design characteristics are an assymetrical shape and 12,5cm (5inch) rocker at bow and stern (that's more then the viper11!)

Stability

In comparison to the prelude, almost every other canoe is stable. But I think stability is equal to the Viper11 for example. Flat bottomed and stable, that's it.

Dryness

That's a harder point. Often it's a matter of choice in design characteristics to choose between dryness or speed. The paradigm has neither of them. Designed with a big displacement bow, you would expect it to be dry. Unfortunately Esquif did cut the canoe almost flat at the gunwales, removing the effect of the rocker at bow and stern on the open side. That results in getting quite some water in on wavetrains and small drops.

Turning

Here I don't know what to think. This canoe is rather well rockered, so I would expect it to be a fast turning machine. And it is, when there is enough water pressure. On the flatter sections, this canoe felt like slow and heavy turning to me. I cannot explain this behaviour though.

To ease the turning, you can and must use the hard chines over the full length of the canoe. These chines give good feedback of the river (the way I like it). I f you don't tilt, the water will pull:

Speed

 I did mention a bit of it when I talked about the dryness. The Paradigm is not really a fast canoe, end  of story.

Acceleration

I would say acceleration is rather intermediate. It's not a canoe that's easy to accelerate, and there are designs that respond way better, but there are more designs that are harder to accelerate.

Boof

I didn't come to a nice boof on ledges with this canoe, even though it's pretty ok to boof waves with this one.

Rolling

 That's really easy in this canoe. It's one of the lighter desings to roll to my opinion.

Conclusion

I have kind of a love-hate relationship with this canoe. It's stable, has hard chines and is quite responsive to tilt, it's easy to tilt it. On the other hand it feels slow and heavy and is a rather wet ride. The Paradigm is certainly not high on my "willing-to-buy" list. But it might be a good balance between the stability of a full blown 11 foot canoe and the responsiveness of the shorter 9 and 10 foot playboats. Oh, and do get your back-surfing-skills up to speed, because this canoe really loves it.

This canoe is really a try-before-you-buy.