RapidInsider LiquidlogicSkip&Pop boat
length width volume weight rocker
paddler weight range lbs standard features
MSRP Cdn
skip 6’4”
pop 6’6”
23.5” 24.25” 39gal 50gal 29lbs 32lbs 7”
8” 100-160 160-210
Adjustable seat & thigh braces, full outfitting kit, stain- less security bars, stiff hull sys- tem, cinch tight system
$1500.00
It’s funny how time changes perspective. When we reviewed the Session Plus, Liquidlogic’s shiny hulls and Lego colours were new and different, simple and seeming- ly at the time, unfinished. We felt like we were paddling a prototype. A year later with familiarity comes acceptance and with the amount of yellow and blue on the river it seems paddlers are embracing the Liquidlogic Skip and Pop with open arms.
The Hull Story They started with the same spin surface used in the slicier Session and Session Plus but the basic premise behind the hull design of the Skip and the Pop was to get air. Once they had a boat they figured would hop, they added back in cartwheelability and comfort. Designer Shane Benedict separates air into
three different types. Hole air is used for moves like loops or space Godzillas. These moves happen by trapping volume underwater quick- ly, forcing the boat to explode back to the sur- face and catch air. Wavewheel air is more just keeping the boat on the surface paddling downstream over waves and drops and then being able to easily throw it around. Finally, wave air is for moves like ollies (hops) or blunts—air you can achieve from the surface of a wave. Emphasis was put on making the boat
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perform best on faster waves. Liquidlogic feels this was achieved by paying close attention to the rocker geometry of the boat. Shane explains: "Rocker allows the boat to rock from the bow to the flat surface easily. If you wanted a good analogy you could say that having a slightly curving rocker through the ends of the boat is like having small skate ramps attached to the front and back of your boat. If the skate ramp is just straight from flat ground to 45 degrees it is very rough and hard to control, but if the ramp has a smooth curving transition from flat to 45 degrees it is much easier to con- trol and carry speed into the move or jump."
Outfitting It’s as if Liquidlogic focused on the per-
formance of the hull and left the outfitting for paddlers to tweak and play with. There is plen-
ty of room in the Skip and Pop for your butt and feet but not quite enough room for our testers’ knees. The back band is ratcheted into the thighbraces and the front pillar pulls out to insert the one-piece foam foot block. There is little shape to the thigh braces, potentially cre- ating pressure points and bruising. The seat and thigh braces do move forward and back but require separate tools to make the adjust- ment. The Skip and Pop come with a bare bones outfitting rig by today’s multi-adjust standards; designer Shane Benedict's con- firms, "We added the normal outfit kit and foam foot blocks because we found that most peo- ple still did their own custom outfitting. We weren’t going to rush into an outfitting system that everyone is just going to tear out and re- build with normal foam anyway."
Down the River
Designers can do many things with plastic but length of waterline equals speed. Short boats like the Skip and Pop, with their extreme rocker, are slow. But what does it mean to the average river runner? You have to paddle like mad everywhere you go. Beginner and inter- mediate paddlers were frustrated with the lack of river running performance. River paddlers said the Skip and Pop paddled like a Kleenex box. We’d never heard that one before but
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