Great for playboating, surfing and manoeuvring, big water. Performs very well, better than loads of the upmarket boats. Don't waste money on a top of the range boat if you get the chance of one of these. Can be used in big water and can cope well in trouble.

About myself

Paddling 10 years - whitewater for 3 years

About the test environment

Madawaska River, Gull River, Ottawa River, Lake Huron Coast, Georgian Bay Coast

Review

I am 6'2", 215 lbs, size 13 (US) feet. I fit very comfortably into the Stretch, with room for lots of gear. The outfitting (Synchro 6 in my boat) is very good and I have encountered no problems with it over the 2 years that I have paddled the Stretch.

On the river the Stretch has good speed and ferrys nicely. There is a lot of bow rocker and pearling is almost never any issue except in the pushiest of water. The boat has rails in the last third of the hull (toward the stern), which are engaged during front surfs but easily released. The forward 2/3s of the boat does not have a rail, but the edge of the hull is fairly abrupt, and works well for carving turns. The boat carves into eddies well, but carving is snappier on a wave when the rails are engaged.

There is a large stern rocker, as well as substantial stern volume, so unintended stern squirts almost never occur. This is a real bonus in larger volume rivers.

The bow design lends itself to boofing. The Stretch boofs well and resurfaces with control and stability.

In holes the boat is easy to side-surf due to its rather forgiving edge/hull design. The Stretch is a very easy boat to spin (on a wave and in a hole). There is a fair amount of volume in the bow and stern, so vertical play is challenging (but do-able).

In lake surf conditions (or ocean surfing, I suppose) the Stretch is a very fun boat. It will hold a bottom-turn about as well as any whitewater boat, and has lots of speed (i.e. you can outrun some waves unless you cut back) despit the stern rocker. Spinning, back surfing, wave wheels, pop-outs and other play-type moves are fairly easy to do with the proper technique.

Conclusion

The Stretch is a very fun, farily forgiving, do-all type of boat. If you are a 200 lbs + paddker looking for a river-runner with some play, this is a great boat. If you want a nice stable, playful lake surfer, the Stretch is a great boat. If you want to go ariel and engage in vertical play, the Stretch is probably not going to be your cup of tea

The description pyranha gives of this boat is pretty much right on to its actual performance, its a good down river boat, and pulls out of big holes fairly well. Its also a very able surfer, and with a wide enough wave you can surf it in class 1 rapids. I'm just getting into whitewater kayaking and I was pleased with the confidence it gave me while still being an extremely fun boat. The eddy squirts on the exit are'nt quite as bad as you might imagine with such a sharp back edge, but you still have to fight through the backsides of larger rapids, and a funny side current can spin you in a moment if you don't have your paddle in the water. The boat works for me and is comfortable as well.

note: I've just had it on some threes with high river levels so I don't know how it would perform in a BIG class four or five holes, although it does have as much displacement as some creek boats. Don't ask me about rolling, I would'nt have much to compare it to.