[Caspian]

Going to the Grand Canyon soon. I know we've had a million of these threads. Mine is a little simpler, hopefully.

I am considering two boats - a Riot Grind and a Dagger SuperEgo. I had the SuperEgo for a year and loved it. I own a Grind that I paddled once on Westwater and has since collected dust. Both are very comfortable. I weigh in at 215# --- y'all who've been there - should I go buy a used SuperEgo, or just take the Grind? I do want to be able to surf. My only concern is that the SE is too slow or that I'll get munched more in it since it won't punch holes as well. Thanks for the input...

steve

 

[outdoormikeg]

Caspian,

Our trip a couple of months back had the following boats:
LL Pop
LL Skip
Necky Vibe
Dagger Kingpin (the smaller one)
2 Perception Blaze (7.1 I think)
Dagger Redline
Wavesport Ace 4.7
LL Lil' Joe

I wouldn't worry about getting munched in holes...they are all pretty easy to avoid/get through (excpet for the one at the top of Hance that got me) but speed will be an issue. Most (if not all) of the waves in the Canyon are catch on the fly (at least when we were down there) so you'll need something that will almost surf itself.

Comfort is the issue...we would paddle the whitewater section (only about 30 miles of the 226) and then get on the rafts for the flatwater (and drinking) sections.

If eddy line play is your gig, those eddy lines will squirt almost anything if you are not careful...

Hope this helps...

 

[Cutch]

Don't be a pansy Steve, just buy and squirt boat and go under everything!

 

[asherj]

Hey there,
I was on that trip mentioned above, in the ace 4.7. I personally wish that I had had my smaller spud boat on the trip for a couple of the waves we encountered, in which i could still blunt in the ace on a couple of the big waves, but wish I had a boat that I could really push my limits in, because featues of that magnitude are rare to come by. Its big but at the water level we did, it wasn't super technical, except for lava, holy #@$%. anyway I'd say take the boat you are most comfortable in and don't let the stories of what you hear disuade you from possibly taking a smaller boat, all the spud boats did fine. It is truly an amazing trip. PS do all of the side hikes and experience as much of it as you can because when you get back it might take a month to set in but you will start to look back on it and it will be on your mind 24-7. I can't wait to go back.