Ive been off playboating for a while now, preferring to spend time in the jefe as it means I feel confident when I jump on creeks. I found the specialist nature of really short bouncy boats unrewarding, as my main aims in paddling lay elsewhere. Ive been wondering whether this has been the right policy, so went for a fresh approach and asked for ideas. DBP spoke and im paddling a trickster to test it out!

I used to have a trickster when they first came round, so knew what to expect. The length slows cartwheels down a lot, flatwater stuff is possible, but rewards good technique and the aggressive edges on this boat mean that its at home on waves not in holes. The boat did have forward speed compared to a modern playboat but the slicy ends mean that constant weight adjustment forward and back are needed to avoid digging the nose in. The hull was really loose, and on a better wave it coiuld have really strutted its stuff as it has real speed down the wave. Blunts require speed rather than bounce, which is difficult to adapt to, but it did feel more rewarding to be able to 'surf' and move around the wave.

I wanted rolling practice and i got it! It had the raised 'power seat' in it and it was hard work. Actually quite frustrating on the kent as I kept losing it in boils! On organised water (the leven) it's easier to manage though.  The best bit was the feeling that moves just looked better with the longer ends, and nobody expects an old boat to pull any moves these days!

Downsides? Even for this class of boat, Its not the right model as i'd want something more forgiving. Secondly it still felt pretty alien from the jefe, which was my criticism of the butt bouncers.

So here's my conclusion. Playboating isnt about the boat, its a state of mind.  That can be done anywhere an any boat. Im thinking 'playboating' rather than 'playboat' and suddenly its dawning on me again what the appeal is. In the old pyranha phrase - 'play the river'.

But this transferability of skills thing is still an issue. So I need  to move closer to the jefe again. That means i'll just aim to do different moves. Ithink its the learning that payboating accelerates, it doesnt really matter what. I learnt to carwheel in an rpm, so that should be possible, screw ups, blasting retendos, eddy line cartwheels etc. Realistically i'll use it most on the leven so would like to run the bridge and weir with confidence as well. I'd love one of the new LL remix's but will have to go retro. Blade?

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