14 1/2-foot Fiddlehead Canoe: Sea trials and first impressions
Jun 13, 2022
Yesterday, we did the first sea trials (or perhaps rather "pond trials") with the new Fiddlehead canoe.
Overall, I'm very happy with the boat.
Compared with the 12-foot single-person Fiddlehead, it seems a little bit faster and a little bit more effortless to paddle.
This is expected, given that the boat has a longer waterline, is only a little bit heavier - and two people are paddling it.
In the video above, I'm paddling the boat with my 10-year-old daughter. For her, it was a bit difficult to keep up with my rhythm, so the paddles did bump into one another from time to time.
Later, we did another paddle where I was in the back seat. She was controlling the boat while I was just keeping up with her paddle strokes. I felt that this was a great setup with a kid, because she really felt in command, while I was just there to give support and extra speed.
Quite a few other children tried paddling the boat, too, and I'm astonished by how easy and intuitive it is for them. My youngest daughter, who is six years old, just paddled away without problems. If corrections to the course were necessary, they were easy for me to make from the back seat.
I think the 14 1/2-foot Fiddlehead is a great option for families or couples. The 12-foot model does have room for an adult and a kid, but It's much more fun when everyone on board has their own paddle.
And the 14 1/2-foot model can easily be converted into a single-person canoe by moving the forward seat and backrest to the middle of the boat.
It would work well for camp-cruising, too, because there's quite a bit of storage space, both behind the aft seat and in the two watertight compartments.
The biggest downside to the 14 1/2 foot model, I think, is the weight. It is a bit bigger and heavier than the single-person models. So you need to be two people to lift it up on the roof rack of a car.
- Mikkel Pagh
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