Just had ‘Eneko Yarza’, Basque paddler, drop in who’s spent the summer boating in the South Island. He’s a proud man and first turned up here on our doorstep when the first Scud’s were just popping out. He didn’t buy into all the hype and excitement going down at the time, damn kiwi’s in there shed in the bush.
Well he took one anyway and disappeared South. I new he would have a good time in that boat. He’s been boating for 12 years and has the skills to be able to creek that thing better than anything else and that’s just what he did.
Somwhere on the west coast?
So I wasn’t at all surprised to see him come back through the door, grin from ear to ear, and the first thing he said to me…I love the SCUD. I never want to paddle another creek boat and that’s just the way it is… Very difficult to go back to a big old tanker after you’ve been ripp’in around in a sport boat. All the boy’s here are having the same problem!!!!!!
Here’s a really good example of what the Scud can do. This is a thump’a on the Waitaha river. This is only the third time I’ve heard of a successful run. This day, another guy tried in one of those old style big boats and swam out of the hole at the bottom. It’s a huge hole!!!! The Scud just plugged it, popped up, sweet as, and Eneko paddled clear of the recycle, free into the pool. It’s funny because the rest of the long boaters portaging around the side still looked at him sideways. They’ll figure it out!!!!! The Scud is also much easier to portage as well you know.
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