Over the past year I've paddled a number of creek boats, i.e. Jefe, Huck, Nomad, MAC, Huka, and finally a Blunt which I ended up buying.

I recently went on a 3 day trip down the Motu River, eastern North Island, New Zealand. This is a great multi-day trip, one which I can recommend to any 3+/4 paddler. It is plain awesome. Anyways...

The Motu has three gorges and a bunch of corner rapids over 2-3 days. I had planned on taking my Blunt but when I tried to pack the boat I found I didn't really have the room I had hoped for, nor needed to be sufficiently safety conscious for my group. So I borrowed the embudo from my flatmate as there is no bulkhead in the front or back which meant more room at the back and room in front of the foot rest for food etc. This makes for easy access for lunch etc and balances it out superbly.

So away we went. I hadn't enjoyed previous runs in the embudo though I had never tried such a challenging river, G4 40-340cumecs. I was amazed at how she handled fully loaded and in some pretty turbulent water. The get out gauge went from 100cumecs to 340 over the three days.

The embudo loved the bigger water and made catching and breaking out of the wide eddylines a breeze. Big waves, holes, and even changing hydraulics were punched without even missing a beat. She accelerated well even with all the weight and made catching the odd swimmer a piece of cake.

I've not written many reviews as my experience hasn't been worth of report but I have really found where this baby shines. Big water, multi-day trips. Sound as a pound I've heard some say... and I would agree.