Nelo Cinco Test

Since the Cinco has come out I have suffered way too many “upside down” jokes but I guess that is part of the job. The front end does indeed look to be upside down, especially if you are old enough to remember the 1970’s boats. It is a fact and I can relate to people telling me.

What I really struggle with is the number of people who have told me that the Cinco is designed for sprint and is no good for marathon. This may well have been true, I had not tried it myself in that situation so I only had the sales pitch to go from, and Nelo had told me it wash-hangs very well. My struggle though came from the fact that when I asked why they said that, they never knew. No one had either tried it themselves or spoken to anyone else who had used it in a marathon scenario. They were just repeating what someone else had said who had also never tried it and never spoken to anyone who had used it. That sort of knowledge always has its limitations but it is very frustrating when it is spoken as fact!

Today I changed that, despite my hideous lack of fitness and time in the boat I took on the Elmbridge Saturday morning session. Anyone who has been understands that that is a pretty good test for any boat and indeed personal skills in a wash-riding / survival scenario.

So what did I find out? Apart from the fact that doing a whole effort was a bit too much for me I learned that the Cinco not only wash-hangs beautifully but it is easy to control in and around a group, very steady on the waves and crosses waves beautifully. Were I to buy a new boat to race marathons in then I think this would be my choice. I absolutely loved it. The one issue I did have is that due to the upside-down nose, the bow of the boat is just out of sight. When crossing behind other boats there is about 10cm of bow that isn’t visible from the paddling position. It would take a few practices before you learn exactly how close you can be to a boat you are trying to dip behind for example. I had to apologise a couple of times for tapping the tails of boats this morning before I got the hang of it.

Conclusion then…the Cinco is in fact a very good boat for marathon racing despite what the ill-informed will tell you! 

Before you write off this report as the sales person having to sell boats, it actually makes no material difference to me whether people buy a Quattro or a Cinco. They are both great boats and both do the job. 

Enjoy your paddling!