Blink impressions

[Wendy]

Kaz shipped Blink #1 to me 2 days ago. Old Dominion got it here today. So, since the terminal was near the lower Green I called my friend Bert to meet me to try her out with me.
1. John (Kaz) added some extra anchors at my request for short legs. With those anchors I can say that the double strap system is the best fit I have ever had. Those of you who know me, or read my posts know I have owned alot of boats. I thought I would miss the bulkhead, but will not on this boat. The knee cups John sends are excellent with the inside edge having a nice high rise to cradle your knees. I did not need to carve the saddle. Carving the hip blocks was quick and easy. With the hip blocks and aggressive knee pads I don't miss foot pegs.
2. The Blink is the best of all the boats I have had recently. It paddles like a lite L'Edge, but has the chines carried farther forward in a way like the Octane 85 so with a little forward lean, flat the boat flies for it's length. The primary and secondary stability are very smooth. The primary reminds me of the Octane 91 when I reached out for offside strokes. The transition from primary to secondary is seamless. The river today was at 100% making the lower Green boney. I did scrap a few rocks, but when I looked at the bottom it was in excellent shape. The wave trains were not large today at that level, class II, but I could feel that it is like the L'Edge or Ion on wavetrains and just loves to bounce over them.
The boats spins so easily. What a joy to carry and paddle.
We spent some time surfing and Bert will be ordering one too. I really like the Shacho, especially if I was racing, but the narrow bow that makes it such a nimble fast boat also makes it hard for me to get in and out easily since it is less stable than the shorter Blink.

[Einar]

b link to the Blink?

Hi Wendy, the the Blink is below my radar. Any links that I can connect with for info.
Thanks

[Wendy]

Go to the Millbrook Boats Facebook page. Last I looked Kaz had not yet updated his web page. I tagged video and pics yesterday to his page. Here are stats he posted.
Length 8 ft 11 inches
Width at gunnels 24 inches, at waterline 27.5 inches
Center depth 16.5 inches
Rocker- "yes"
Weight outfitted 25 pounds minus airbags

[craig]

How is it with cross strokes for those vertically challenged?

[Wendy]

The Blink and Shacho are very easy for cross strokes. I am 5 ft 3 1/2 inches. For me the Blink is super easy. One of the attributes I really enjoyed the first day (once my helmet was on ) was the ease of cross strokes in a boat with excellent primary stability. It is so stable I wanted to rise out of the saddle and do a head stand. Alas, I can't normally do one and surely would have broken the boat. The Shacho with it's longer more narrow bow is a little harder with the rise/rocker that occurs in the front, but so much easier than so many OC1s.
Here is the bow with the sticker in place. John may be placing them differently. The stickers arrived as he shipped my boat so I installed them.

[canoemid]

I paddled Wendy's Blink a little and was impressed. I'm 5'5 and recently bought a Millbrook Shacho. Even at my lower skill level I found a cross stroke easier than in the Shacho. Closer to that of the Ion. The Blink is a great addition to the Millbrook line. Surfing was great in it. I echo Wendy's comments in her review. The Shacho is my first composite boat. I'm impressed with the design. I'm very impressed with Kaz's workmanship and how tough this material is. Bert

[pblanc]

Wendy, did Kaz outfit the boat with the foam pedestal, strap anchors and double straps? If so, how much did that come to?

[kaz]

Yes I did Pblanc. My outfitting costs $300 installed. Please see http://www.millbrookboats.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.
Thanks.

[Wendy]

Paddled the Blink today on the Nanty. What incredible fun. I was able to do moves that have eluded me since going to short boats, and being 10 years older. At PB&J wave Bert and I surfed, and surfed. As a matter of fact my last surf I did 180s. 360s, side/front surfed, then got on my off side and stayed there for several minutes. At one point I spun the boat around, but it sucked me back into an off side surf. Finally I exited in a windowshade. lol What Big Boomin Fun as Chuck says. At the end of the day I was ready to paddle again. Glass boats rock John Kazimierczyk, of course you know that! Bert will be ordering one soon. We took turns in the Shacho and Blink.
When the rain comes other rivers will be an option.

[canoemid]

I recently purchased a Millbrook Shacho to paddle on the Lower Green and the Nantahala here in North Carolina. I was a bit hesitant due to my lack of experience with glass whitewater boats, but I spoke with a few folks who had paddled them, and they assured me that with good river reading skills I would have no problems. Am I glad they convinced me to give the material a try! Lightweight boat with a great design. Sounds "horrific" first times you scrape a rock, but only light scratches. I'm still not accustomed to the sound, but this material is tough! A friend let me paddle his Defiant a few times, and I'm impressed with it as well. Both the Shacho and Defiant are quick boats that allow me to move around unexpected under-surface rocks at the last moment. I had never used hip blocks, but they are a great addition to help maneuver.

I've been in the Blink twice, and I'm convinced it's a great boat. Hopped in it on the Nanty here in NC and found myself immediately comfortable in faster current than the Lower Green we tested it on previously. The Blink reminds me of a combination of a Lite L'Edge and an Ion (the only boats I've paddled close to the design of the Blink). I love my Ion. The Blink allows me, as an older guy, to lift, dump, load it on the car and move it around on the water and off with little effort due to the weight. I caught eddies and peeled out with ease. Surfed with great control. Handled wave trains similar to my Ion; yet a bit more lively. You owe it to yourself as you get older (and we all will...) to check out Millbrook designs. Thanks Wendy for promoting this sport!

[canoemid]

...and thanks Kaz (Millbrook Boats) for great customer service and offering these boats!

[pblanc]

Paddled the Blink today on the Nanty. What incredible fun. I was able to do moves that have eluded me since going to short boats, and being 10 years older. At PB&J wave Bert and I surfed, and surfed. As a matter of fact my last surf I did 180s. 360s, side/front surfed, then got on my off side and stayed there for several minutes. At one point I spun the boat around, but it sucked me back into an off side surf. Finally I exited in a windowshade. lol What Big Boomin Fun as Chuck says. At the end of the day I was ready to paddle again. Glass boats rock John Kazimierczyk, of course you know that! Bert will be ordering one soon. We took turns in the Shacho and Blink.
When the rain comes other rivers will be an option.

Wendy, I have paddled the Nanty quite a few times over quite a few years, but PB&J wave is a new one for me. What wave goes by that moniker?

Have you paddled that Blink enough to compare it to the L'Edge light and Octane 85?

Aaron, if you see this thread my guess is that you have paddled that cut down Option enough to compare it to your Stinkeye. If so, would you do so? If I remember correctly, you built yours a bit bigger than Mikey B's original design, did you not? I assume that the dimensions of the Blink correspond to those of Mikey's original design, right?

Mike B, if you see this thread I wonder if you have paddled either the Blackfly Option, Blackfly Octane 85, or L'Edge (original or light) and if you have, would you care to compare?

[Todhunter]

Wendy, I have paddled the Nanty quite a few times over quite a few years, but PB&J wave is a new one for me. What wave goes by that moniker?

The only PBJ rapid I know of is on the upper Nantahala, but it doesn't look like it was running any time recently, so I doubt it's that one.

[Mikey B]

Pete,
Yes, the Blink is more like the StinkEye you've seen me paddling...slightly less stern rocker, a bit wider at the gunnels, and Kaz rounded the chines slightly to wear better.
I've paddled the Option only briefly, the L'Edge light a bit, and the L'Edge a bit more.
I think the L'Edge light and the Blink/Stinkeye feel very similar...enough so that jumping between the two you would feel at ease right away. I was actually amazed at how well the light L'Edge accelerates. The Blink is a bit flatter in the midsection...I was after a bit more speed...but after paddling the L'Edge Light I'm not sure it makes that much difference. Personally, I'd give the nod to the L'Edge for serious surfing but the Blink will be quite good too. I think you might like how the Blink catches eddies a bit better maybe....seems I recall you feeling like the L'Edge's rounded hull had a feel you didn't like as well? I didn't get a chance to surf the Option but it appears great from videos I've seen. I have had a couple guys tell me my Stinkeye felt much like the Option as well...they all are very similar to paddle I think but we all had slightly different approaches and things we preferred I think. I know for myslef, being from MI and seemingly to be getting to paddle WW less each year, and paddling a Taureau predominently at the time, I personally wanted a playful river runner that I could run the stuff when I come out to paddle with you guys and not have to worry about my balance in the boat as much as I had to concentrate on my lines. I was inspired by the Spanishfly and the Taureau for my likes and dislikes. I think the design came out way better than I'd ever hoped for and has proven to be a very nimble boat that is very fun...and still more stable feeling than what I was paddling.
The Esquif's and the Blackfly's are great boats designed by much better paddlers than I. So maybe they are more rounded craft than mine, but I think mine is right there with them for the most part...and it seems those who have paddled them have really liked them too.
And the composite version of such sized similar boats is a great choice to have! Thanks so much to Kaz for taking the risk!!!!
Mikey B

[pblanc]

Mike,

Thanks for your comments. I paddled an original, fully decked L'Edge down the Nantahala twice and I paddled my friend's latest generation Blackfly Option down the Nantahala once. I very briefly paddled Ed Powers L'Edge Light on the Slip, surfing and easy wave and just doing some easy ferries and crossing some eddy lines. I got to paddle two different Octane 85s just at Surfer's Rapid on the Nantahala, Wendy's and another one the day prior.

I have come to generally prefer somewhat edgier boats like the Viper OC-1s and the Ocoee. I like their tendency to carve arcing turns better, and better directional stability on ferries. When I paddled the heavy L'Edge I was a bit disappointed in my ability to stick smaller eddies. A cursory examination of the hull suggested that it had a good bit of edge, but for me what edge it had seemed to engage very late when crossing an eddy line, so many times before it did the boat was either out the other side of the eddy, or it would turn upstream but just keep going backwards out of the eddy. That may have just been a result of my inexperience with the boat, but for me the boat seemed to have as much momentum as if I was paddling a tandem boat like a Caper or Caption solo.

I liked the Option quite a bit better. It would seem to "snap" into eddies in a way that I couldn't make the heavy L'Edge do. Maybe it just seemed more familiar to me. Perhaps a little less dry and forgiving than the L'Edge, but only very slightly.

The L'Edge light seemed dramatically more lively to me, much more so than I would have guessed from the weight difference alone. I really felt like I wanted to try that boat some more. The Octane 85 was also a neat boat. Water planes under the hull very well on a wave. It behaved edgier than the L'Edge, and I swam out of Wendy's boat when I tried to cut it back upstream as I was getting surfed off of Surfer's Rapid wave toward river left (surfer's right) as a result of not being sufficiently mindful of the edge and not weighting my left knee quickly enough. But that too was a boat that I felt like I would really like to paddle some more.

If the Blink behaved even remotely like an even lighter version of the L'Edge light, I think it would have real potential.