Canoe Review: Esquif Blast

Esquif Blast specifications

I've had the chance to give the Blast a test ride together with James Weir. It must be said that paddling a tandem boat, also is colored by the paddling partner. I was lucky to paddle together with James, and we found a pretty good understanding of each others paddling style.

My overall impression of this boat very positive. It's stable, dry running and I did not have the impression it was slow.

Stability, as being said, is not a problem. The chines are like the Nitro or Detonator, double chines. This adds up to a stable and responsive boat. A consequence of these double chines is that you have to tilt it rather aggressively to prevent  unwanted effects (like tipping over ;-)).
Even thought it is a very stable boat, it is still very agile to paddle. I am actually surprised how agile this boat is for a tandem boat. Even small eddies were not really a problem.

Due to the typical Nitro/Detonator/Blast bow: big and fat, this boat is a really dry running boat. Even with James and me in the boat (not an ultralight combination) we did not take in too much water. 

We did not come to the point of rolling this boat. Or at least, not in tandem. I managed to get out and James rolled it afterwards. Good fun, but not the most ideal solution. For a tandem roll we definetly need some more training.

We did not come to the point where we could really test the possibilities of boofing this boat. But I've seen people doing great boofs with this boat, so I suppose it is absolutely possible.

Something to get used to though is the fact that both paddlers are sitting really close to each other. As a stern paddler, it's really  hard to see what's going on right at the bow. The advantage is that it's still feasable to verbally communicate. 

We did not tested this boat very well on it's surfing capabilities. But here again I think I can rely on what I've seen from other paddlers paddling this boat, having nice and long surfs. 

Stability

It's long, it's wide, it's stable, simple as that.

Dryness

I'm impressed by the dryness of this canoe, even with a heavier paddler at the bow, it does not take in too much water, especially not for a tandem. Other tandem canoes tend to take in much more water.

Turning

Impressive for a tandem canoe. The fact that both paddlers are sitting really close to each other helps of course the turning performance. But I'm really impressed by how fast you can turn this Blas.

Speed

You are at two, so you simply have more power. I never had the idea we were coming short in speed. Well, we did not really have flatwater to test it on, but I don't think this boat is slow. You will find faster tandem canoes, but they'll have to pay on other areas.

Acceleration

Again, you are at two, but this boat accelerates pretty good. The little compromise you pay here for the dryness, you can easily compensate by the fact that two people are in the canoe.

Boof

No chance to try it ourselves, but I've seen amazing boofs done by the people from Bushpaddler.de in their Blast. So I simply accept the fact that you can do very neat things in this canoe.

Rolling

James and I didn't come to the point of tandem rollilng. But it's possible, again, the guys from Bushpaddler.de do areally impressive job there.

Conclusion

 In total I'm really pleased by this boat, for playboating purposes. The Blast is a nice playfull boat that is responsive but at the same time still pretty stable. This boat is dry running, which is a very big advantage for a whitewater boat. On top of his great fun capabilities the Blast is a very interesting boat for teaching. You can perfectly take a student with you to introduce him/her in whitewater paddling. Even more advanced paddlers can be introduced to a higher level of paddling.