Gear Review: Wavesport Recon 93
--Product Information--
Product Name: Recon 93
Product Brand: Wavesport
Best Use: Creeking
Sizes Available / Specs: 70, 83, & 93
--Test Information--
Location of Test: EFL, Lower trout into the Upper Wind
Duration: 2 days
--Ratings--
Value Rating: 8
Durability Rating: 9
Overall Rating: 8
Full Review: I had the chance to paddle the recon 93 on a few different runs now. It is a great beginner boat that also allows an experienced paddler to take advantage of its features.
Coming in at 55 lbs and 93 gallons, the Recon 93 is a lot of boat. That's a lot of flotation to take down the river, but the recon disperses it nicely. One feature I enjoyed was a smaller deck profile near the knees. Despite the high volume of the Recon, you rarely bump yourself while paddle or have to adjust your stroke around a large knee flare.
The buoyancy aids in punching through those big holes and resurfacing, but the nearly full rail allows the recon to gather speed pretty easily. With the weight and buoyancy taken into account the Recon accelerates quickly for a boat its size. A few well placed strokes and you've attained ramming speed. The rails allow you to hold your trajectory and the significant bow rocker will have you blasting into space in no time.
The Recon is very easy to roll, due in part to its low knee profile. It also sheds water quickly both bow and stern increasing resurface time. A solid boat for beginner to intermediate paddlers it also performs well on the hard stuff for all the reasons that make it a great entry level boat. I'll continue to turn to it as a another reliable boat for steep creeking and some river running.
The Good List: A great beginner to intermediate craft, good for steep creeks, and great to roll.
The Not so Good List: Takes a bit of driving for harder lines. You get what you put out, paddle hard and with purpose.
The Bottom Line: A great boat for beginners on easy to moderate whitewater. Intermediate and advanced paddlers will find that paddling it with purpose gives them a high performance boat while lackluster paddling leads to a bit of pinballing.