Boat: Sniper 55
Manufacturer: Riot
Website: http://www.riotkayaks.com/Riot/
Reviewer: Ronan

Review:
This is a seriously fantastic creeker. For those of you who paddle with me I have a long running distain for Riot and their clumsy, heavy, gimmicky heaps of shite that they produced on a regular basis! However over the last 2 years they have changed their ways and their designs to making boats for people who don’t live on a diet of burgers.

It is as Corran described it “A creek boater for a playboater”. It was the same setup inside as all the new Riots with the thigh strap system, which after several years of playboating with rigid thigh braces I finally accepted as being quite good.

The boat is really comfortable to sit in for hours on end with tons of room and a really good fit. Getting to the point however the boat feels reasonably light for its size, and has the same playful hull that a playboat has, meaning that those tight technical turns into minute eddies are easy. There is just the right amount of rocker to do this without compromising on the forward speed of the boat allowing it to go straight very easily regardless of the water conditions. There is also a solid foot plate for those bigger more vertical drops and boulder gardens.

I also had the stern plate on mine allowing me to stow gear in it. There is a ton of space in here and I was able to store all my dry gear in here between shuttles to rivers. It does leak though. There was maybe 40ml of water in there after a grade 4+ / -5 river in which many people swam and one nearly didn't make it back.

However 40ml is nominal in sight of the rivers we were doing. I was able to wave-wheel the boat though regardless of its size and weight and it was really friendly when up on edge.

Another thing that was helpful was the water displacement at the front when charging through holes and waves. The water shot up over the bow and was displaced to the side stopping the boat from loading and stopping me from getting sprayed in the face when I needed to see line clearly.

The fittings on the outside of krab clip points are great for safety and for keeping your boat safe on your car roof. The grab handles were also really comfortable, I however carried the boat on my shoulder to the get-in and get-out as it was fairly light and comfortable to do so.

One good example of the ability of this boat was a day on the Ubaye when it start of the season, 40°C and it was very high our ex-rugby captain took a dip in a fairly shity place. I managed to pluck all 18 stone of him from the river and drag him to the side. I barely noticed the difference on the boats performance and the swimmer said that he was able to get a hold of the boat solidly with the grab handles and lay on the stern plate.

Unknown to me there was a lump of concrete placed in my stern hatch placed by my astute colleagues who thought they would have a laugh. It didn’t make a difference with this 18 stone bloke fast, heavy water & a lump of concrete in the back as well.

So my advice is if you're a serious playboater like myself, but are smart enough to know when to put the wee monster away for the day and keep your ass dry, then this is the boat for you!