Salon Nautique Paris

8-12-02

Nice daytrip to Paris, a bit early Christmas window-shopping, nothing special. But finally we were a bit disappointed, 'cause we didn't get to see all the new models or prototypes, the Transformer didn't arrive the next Monday. Also very unfortunately was that the pool, where you could try-out boats was only filled half, that was about 40 cm. By the end of the day, some guys came to check that out and finally started to fill it, but too late for us, buzzzer.
  

The only real new freestyle boat we wanted and also got to see was the RIOT AIR. Crazy little creature, but no try-out in the pool, snif, snif.

The back really looks short, apparently that's made so in order to loop, flip turn and helix better.

In the back you see the Riot creeker, the SNIPER, short but fat.

(Ps. Really strange or shall I say stupid, is the logo on the sides of the front and back of the boat. Why strange? 'Cause it resambles very much the Prijon logo !!! Doesn't anybody at Riot's knows Prijon logo?
Of course it cold also be the logo of one of the most popular shoes of the past years, the Nike AIR. Couldn't they have been a bit more inventive and creative?)

Here's an inside view.

The Sniper, creek boat. In the back is a dry compartment where you can put stuff, works also as a floater.

Here left is the new Prijon Release, that's the replacement for 2003 of the Delerious, the 2 pics on the right. Didn't see a lot of difference? Very large hull, a big surfing plane, edgy nose and stern.

The perceptions with the 'pump-system', check the red ball in front of the seat. This is a little pump, if you squeeze it, the pads next to your hips fill with air, so you get to sit tight in your boat. It feels really nice.

Good if you don't like to spend some evenings padding your boat. Might also be handy if a boat is used by different paddlers or you change a lot from summer to winter outfit, you don't need to change the padding. Otherwise I don't get the idea why padding should be changeable, once you've done your padding, it normally lasts a while. And I also got the impression that I wanted the to blow the cushions harder then I was able to... 

The new Eskimo Topo creeker. Not a lot of difference wit the old one.

- The deck has gotten the look of the Eskimo Salto, a bit of house design.
- The nose is a bit more slicy. The old nose was rather big and wide, so when you needed to paddle upstream a bit, it took away a lot of speed.
- The hull is more flat with some very soft edgy lines. Those might guide the boat more, good for more speed.

But all those differences are so small, people wonder if they will make any difference.

Here are two big creekers from last year, the Rainbow Zulu.

If you want more pics on the Paris Boat Show, here's a link to another report on Canoë Kayak Club de Rhinau et du Ried.