First of all I am 5ft 10-11" and have a 34"inseam 140lbs (10stone). Tested On the Tryweryn


COMFORT:

Compared to the S6 the Air 45 is really comfy and i could get the seat 2 notches forward with the bulkhead in and 3 without. i really liked the backrest and the thighbraces as you could get very tight in the boat whilst still been really comfy. Another advantage is that by having the metal seat rails you can easily attach a lap-belt to the boat.


FLATWATER:

The Air 45 was a little harder than the S6 to get the ends down but was very stable on either end. gr8 fun. It was very easy to stall and had a lot of bounce which makes learning Flatwater loops easy.


HOLE:

loops were great although not aerial but thats mainly due to the type of stopper i was in (top hole) and my ability although it had loads more pop than my S6 did. It splitwheels very well which is good and when cartwheeling it is very and balanced (with the seat in the middle) although slightly bouncy but better than the S6. But hole moves require getting used to the boat as you need much less power than in the S6 as if you forced the bow down it went very fast and over vertical quite easily, but if you use a little finesse it was very smooth and easy to link ends at whatever angle you wanted clean ends were easy too. It was quite retentive and once used to the boat very controllable both angle of ends and speed of ends.

WAVE:

WOW!!! what a boat. its just super fast and zippy. On the elbow wave i cannot get any bounce at all in an s6 i was getting good bounces on elbow wave. It held a super fast and grippy carve whilst still being relatively forgiving although a little edgy. it spun easier than any other boat i could get clean 540's on elbow wave i can't clean at all in an s6. Blunting was out of this world, the boat releases in an instant i could blunt at around 60 degrees both ways compared to 40ish degree ones I could get in the S6 on this wave. This is the best boat i have ever paddled on a wave. You have got to try it to belive it.


OVERALL IMPRESSIONS:

Amazing. best boat I ever paddled in a hole and on a wave althoug to get the best out of it it takes a while to get used to the boat as you don't need to put much power into anything esspecially in stoppers where with finesse its very stable and controlable. I would give it a 10 out of 10 and would reccomend anyone to try this or its bigger brother before buying any new boat.



James Bebbington


http://www.juniyakers.com/juniyakers/media/floop45.avi right click and save target as. see me floop it.