Grind Review & Pics

I was able to spend about 45 minutes or so in the Grind at a small hole on the Mayo River. When I first read about this boat I was sort of thinking that it might be rather gimpish...When I first saw this boat I thought WOW! The Grind is going to be THE boat for us bigger paddlers (220+) or for intermediates who want a boat for running rivers but also want to be able to spin and huck ends. It really doesn't look like the Glide, I mean you can see some features on it that the Glide influenced like it's spin disk, which is really cool, but it isn't an over-inflated toned down Glide by any means. It has alot of rocker and it floats me really high in the water, each tip was about 6 inches from the water's surface compared to my Glide which has maybe 3/4 of an inch on a good day.

COMFORT and OUTFITTING:

The Grind is VERY comfortable, I had the foot pegs almost all of the way forward and I felt like I was sitting in my Kix. I don't think that there are going to be many people who have difficulty fitting in the Grind by any means. The cockpit was designed around bigger paddlers, it is noticably bigger than the Glide and other Riot boats, and I think that I could get both of my legs out at the same time in case of a vertical pin. The new D3 seat is nothing short of revolutionary and seems to be easy to adjust and move around. The new Xytec plastic makes for a light boat and the Grind is noticably lighter than X-Link Glide.

Performance:

The hole was sort of small and flushy and I don't think that I would be able to get a whole lot of ends in my Glide there and I really didn't think I would be able to get any in the Grind. However, I was pleasantly suprised and managed to get quite a few cartwheels going, including a retentive 2 pointer that nicely set me up for a 3rd end. It felt very stable on on its bow and stern and it was easy to surf around in the hole to setup your carthweels. It sliced through the water easily and once you got the bow to go it was easy to slam the stern under. The Glide is better suited for small holes where it takes a strong double pump to get ends going and for eddywheels and flatwheels, but the Grind would be my playboat of choice for most holes because it is soooo easy to setup and once you start cartwheeling it is going to be very retentive. The Grind felt very loose, not really any more or less than the Glide, but I think that it will flatspin better for us bigger paddlers (190+) than Glide does because the ends don't catch as much due to the EXTRA rocker it has. I didn't try any flatwheels or eddywheels because there were large chunks of ice floating in the water and it was frigid when you flipped over. Eddywheels for larger paddlers or smaller ones with good technique aren't going to be that hard on a good eddyline. I think that after a while and some good technique that larger paddler, such as my self, are going to be able to flatwheel it with a little forward speed.(No Smashing required)

Down River Peformance:

I was able to take it down a nice creeky little class III rapid and it felt to be a very sweet river running, playboating machine. It was very fast and holes were no problem to punch. I think this would make a GREAT boat for running the Upper Gualley or the Russell Fork in because it seems to be a very predictable, stable river runner that will shred at the playspots. I am thinking about getting a Grind as my river runner and I will paddle it on all but the steepest creeks.

All in All I really liked the Grind and really couldn't find any faults with it. It seemed to do everything well and while it isn't the best playboat out there or the best river runner, I think that you will be hard pressed to find a boat that combines the two better than the Grind. If you have any questions feel free to drop me an email at [email protected] or if you want to try one out, email Don Hege, owner of Whitewater Destinations at [email protected]