[please login to make this ad block disappear]
Articles
My favorite gear:
Login first to add this to your Likes or Haves.
Login first to add this to your Likes or Haves.
Zulu
Write Review
Short Facts
Brand
Rainbow
Model Year
Usage
Intended Paddling Environment
Type
Available Colors
See picture
Stats
Please login to see full stats. |
The extreme Rainbow kayak made for WW 4-6.
Perfect for steep creeking and big volume water. Its large storage space, in spite of its small size, makes it ideal for longer expeditions as well.
• Sedile “Ergonomic” regolabile / Ergonomic and adjustable seat
• Puntapiedi “Ergosafe” / “Ergosafe” foot braces
• Premicoscia imbottiti / Padded thigh hooks
• Maniglie WW / WW grab loops
• Longherone anteriore / Frontside frame
• Longherone posteriore / Backside frame
• Anello di sicurezza / Safety ring
• Tappo di svuotamento / Drain plug
• Poggiaschiena imbottito / Padded backband
• Puntale / Bowcap
Perfect for steep creeking and big volume water. Its large storage space, in spite of its small size, makes it ideal for longer expeditions as well.
• Sedile “Ergonomic” regolabile / Ergonomic and adjustable seat
• Puntapiedi “Ergosafe” / “Ergosafe” foot braces
• Premicoscia imbottiti / Padded thigh hooks
• Maniglie WW / WW grab loops
• Longherone anteriore / Frontside frame
• Longherone posteriore / Backside frame
• Anello di sicurezza / Safety ring
• Tappo di svuotamento / Drain plug
• Poggiaschiena imbottito / Padded backband
• Puntale / Bowcap
User reviews
(Updated: January 31, 2006)
Overall rating
4.0
Design
4.0
Perfomance
4.0
Quality
4.0
Value / Money
4.0
Stable and easy, but not a hole-puncher
About myself
I'm a good class IV paddler. I usually paddle in north west Italian rivers (mostly in the Piemonte region). I'm a member of Canoa Club Milano.
I learned paddling playing kanupolo.
About the test environment
Zulu is a quite common school boat in Italy and sometimes I had occasion to try it in our school rivers, like Ticino or Sesia, but during a day in october 2004 I had the occasion to test it on a real technical river.
Some friends invited me to run on Enna river, it is a quite unknown small river (IV+ WW) in the mountains close to Bergamo, in North/NE Italy.
The river was cold, narrow and with lot of tight turns.
Here is a picture by Marcello Parmigiani (Kayak Team Turbigo)
Although the Zulu is almost hidden, you should have a good impression about the test environment.
Review
Zulu behaved quite well, its shape is very similar to wavesport Y, it has a flat hull that gives you lot of stability, but it is a little bit smaller, and this should make it more agile.
About boat behaviour in water, I felt very well, i just found it a little bit hard to roll during eskimos, this is mainly due to its squared shape.
Unfortunately I had lot of problems with outfitting, during the descent, bakcrest got unscrewed, that is really bad for a creekboat, but it must be said that it was a club boat with poor manutention.
Volume is correctly balanced, after several jumps I emerged in the correct position.
Unfortunately it is not a fast boat, many owners complain about lack of "hole-punching" capability.
As I said it is a quite common boat in Italian kayak schools, but some expert Italian kayakers use it as a creeker, the most famous is Francesco Balducci, but it has been used also by Francesco Salvato.
Now it is no more trendy, but sometimes I have the impression that the reason is more because its great popularity beetween beginners instead of its performances.
Conclusion
PROS
• Stability
• Easy to control
• Volume distribution
• Cheaper
CONS
• Some choices in material could be better, in particular polyethilene looks to be too thin
• Slow
Review
Affiliated
No
About Me
Location: Torino - Italy
Age: 35
Weight: 80 kgs
Age: 35
Weight: 80 kgs
Was this review helpful to you?