Disco Review & Pics

Picture Courtesy of Whitewater Destinations

I was able to spend about an hour in the Disco on the Mayo River this weekend. There was a nice little class IIIish hole that was a little on the flushy side and a 6 inch ledge hole just downstream. The Disco is a fun little boat and I was shocked to find that at my size the boat floated. :) Actually both ends were about 1" out of the water which is about the same as in my Glide. I was very comfortable and was able to sit in it with my tennis shoes on and about 6" of foam in the bow of the boat. I tried out the Standard Wt. version which was still very light and had the D3 seat in it. The comp version has a power seat in it to save weight. This will be a very fun boat for smaller paddlers as well as bigger ones who want to shed even the smallest holes. Any way here is what I found:

COMFORT:

The disco was at least as comfortable as my Glide, but I have short legs. The boat was very roomy inside and I think that leg legnth is going to be the only limiting factor for people. At my weight the boat seemed to trim out nicely with the ends about an inch off of the water and with the new D3 seat adjusting the height and trim is going to be a breeze. I could have played all day long in the Disco and been walking upright and normal at the takeout.

PERFORMANCE:

I could huck ends everywhere... splatwheels, splitwheels, flatwheels, eddywheels,flatwheels starting from the stern, you name it...you can do it. I could almost slam the bow under with the second part of a double pump (the bow smash part) and I am positive that if I were to spend a week in the boat I could do it. The first flatwheel that I tried ended up with 2 points and falling back on my head from over doing it (I had just got out of a Grind and am used to flatwheeling a Glide) I would have giggled as soon as I rolled up but I had an ice cream headache. I have no problem believing that women are going to be able to flatwheel this boat and splatwheels are going to be very easy to do now. In the hole it was easy to move around and cartwheel anywhere, on top of the pile, deep in the pile, or on the shoulder. 2 ends were a given and it wasn't hard to get more if you wanted them. You could even throw ends in the backwash of the hole and in the current on the way out of the hole if you wanted. The boat is very fast while cartwheeling and before you know it you are dizzy. I was able to get 2 very vertical ends in a 6" ledge hole and I think that I could have gotten 3 or 4 but the water was way to cold to be very brave. Needless to say, this boat is going to bring flatwheeling to everyone and it is going to make that little class II river behind your house a playground. It also seems to be very loose and I can't wait to try one out on a big phat foamy wave hole where you can link cleans into carthweels. :) I think that the Disco is going to open up a lot of new moves for everyone and most of the tricks that you only the best of paddlers were doing last season will be opened up for Joe Average in the Disco.

RIVER RUNNING:

I was able to try the Disco out in a nice little class III creeky rapid and I found it to be a pretty good river runner. People are going to be running alot of Sick Shit in the Disco this year, but I think that for me it would be a class III/IV playboat only. I was suprised at it's speed, don't get me wrong it is still slow, but it was quicker than I thought was possible for a sub 7' playboat. The Disco was also much more user friendly than what the Glide/Slice were and I found it to be very easy to roll.

All in all I though the Disco was a fun little boat and it will open up alot of new moves and playspots that you would have never imagined. It is a hard boat not to like and it really didn't have any major flaws that I found. Of course it was on the slow side but what do you expect? It is a very fun boat and most people are going to love it. You should definately hop into one if the opportunity ever arises. If you have any questions feel free to drop me an email at [email protected] or if you are interested in trying one out drop Don Hege an email at [email protected]