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Subject: Acrobats, Stingrays and Maxis

Author:
Troy

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Date Posted: 18:14:22 03/05/02 Tue
In reply to: Juno 's message, "Re: Hey Dean and Vish, you forgot...." on 08:28:33 03/04/02 Mon

It's a bit excessive to reubbish these boats. They all had/have their place. And they were all designed by Steve Hemsley, one of Australia's premier players of the 90's.

The Maxi was a great boat in its day!
It was the Steve's first design in the 80's...
remember that it suited the style of play in small pools.

Steve refined the design (and made it fit ICF specs) when he designed the Stingray 270 in the early 90's. But that design turned out to be more sutiable for lighter players (and I still think it's the best boat for lighter players [but then I'm not one of them so I can't really speak first hand] and I incorporated some of its principles into the Flame design).

Steve then lengthened the boat to about 290cm and produced the Stingray 290(?) which we know in its plastic form as the Perception Acrobat. Steve and his sister Jo competed in Kevlar layups of this boat at 94 & 96 World championships and both remained among the most competitive players there. They could definitely perform in the boats, so a lot of it comes down to personal preference.

There is definitely a difference in moving to the plastic Acrobat and I don't like the design but then I didn't feel comfortable in the Cyclone either. I think the added weight has a significant impact (but Dean posted a separate item surveying that aspect).

The essence of it is that everybody gets used to them own boats and will tend to defend their selection 'religiously'.
I think some boats have some serious design flaws and I believe many paddlers would play better if they chose a more appropriate boat design, but they get used to what they've got and often resist a change (and that's before politics come into over who designed the boat or who makes it... AUS designed must be superior!!!)...

Of greatest concern to me is the 'slanderous' disregard being shown on this forum to some boat manufacturers and designers regarding their choice of designs...
some of these businesses may be in a position to help our sport (now or in the future) ... some people who read this forum are associated with those businesses...
Do you think it helps at all when their products get rubbished an an NZCPA sanctioned site?

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Replies:

Subject	Author	Date
Some good points here...	Dean	20:57:20 03/05/02 Tue

politics on the forum & NZCPAwww	Webslave	11:39:19 03/06/02 Wed
Re: politics on the forum & NZCPAwww -- vish, 12:38:21 03/06/02 Wed
Re: Acrobats, Stingrays and Maxis	vish	19:10:34 03/06/02 Wed