About Me:
I've been paddling since I was in sixth grade. I started in the Mirage followed by the Perception Dancer, Wave Sport Lazer, Dagger Vertigo, Wave Sport Transformer (T2), and now the Liquid Logic Vision 56. I like to paddle big water, waves, holes, and BIG ocean surf. The V56 is perfect for people who like river-play and ocean-play.

Where:
G-Spot on Limington Rapids, at Limington, Maine, USA. At 5000 cfs and below, a nice wave/hole forms at the park and play campsite on Route 25. At higher levels, G-Spot turns into a straight, wide, sticky hole, with no eddy service, which you must catch on the fly. As you come downriver a ledge drops about one to two feet in the center of the river, with the main current passing on both sides. Peel into the eddy behind G-Spot from river right and you can rest and observe the spot. I call this a wave/hole because there is a hole which leads into a wave that flushes out into the main current on river left. The wave has a shoulder on the far side where it joins the main current. When you flush off the wave, you must quickly peel back into the same eddy in order to avoid missing the eddy service.

The Boat:
The Liquid Logic Vision56 was fast and carved very well. It doesn't carve like a surfboat, but who in their right mind would expect this. It is so fast on the wave that I had to think 1-2 moves ahead. Due to its speed, I had to carve and/or flatspin to bring myself back to the top of the foam pile. This boat loves to drive down the wave, with lots of speed. Also, the Vision56 spins easily, it's snappy, and loves the vertical realm. This boat almost reads your mind, just lead with your head and you're there. Since it was so fast, I was able to get great bounce on edge transfers for nice blunts and backstabs. This boat really opens up the wave. I could move around the wave to use its features; like carving to the shoulder on the far side, hitting a blunt into a 180 flatspin, then immediately tear right back to the shoulder and hit it again. One more example of the boats speed and carvability: I didn't need to use the eddy service. I was able to carve back and forth all day, finally shooting back upstream and returning to the place from which I entered the wave. The vectoring capability on this boat is great! I have never seen anyone in another boat come back out where they dropped into G-Spot.

What about the rails? The Liquid Logic Vision56 is able to carve and spin easily without catching edges. The protruding rails on the sides of the boat are forgiving. I never once caught an upstream edge. The V56 is a wonderful boat, however; I would not recommend this boat to a beginner kayaker since it is fast, you really must think ahead.

Overall:
The outfitting is functional, comfrortable and simple. The Vision56 comes with footbags, but I prefer foot blocks. This is where the magic happens, there's nothing like personalizing your boat with foam. The V56 also has balanced volume for aireal moves and cartwheeling. The Liquid Logic Vision56 re-defines what is possible. I enjoy its ability to punch through holes and waves while running downriver, then spin on the spot to carve & play, engage a rail and peel back into the current. It is simple; comfort, more control, and speed.

I've had this boat for 4 months and absolutly love it. Found it to be one of the most comfy play boats ive ever sat in. Liquid Logic have made a fantastic boat. As an aspiring playboater I know jack all about the moves it can do but have seen it in the hands of a mate and looked good. Not a great surfing boat but on a river wave this boat comes into its own. Only concern with it is how good the plastic is- whether a poor plastic has been used to keep weight down. The seat mechanism is superb, really easy to adjust, just taking seconds literally. The boat is a gift to paddle, feeling a lot longer than it actually is, handy when paddling between playspots. Pitty about the stupid foot cushion, solid foot blocks would be a lot less hassle and they wouldn't burst.

I feel the main factors that take away from a brilliant boat is the dopey foot system and maybe slighlty soft plastic. Otherwise the outfitting is first class with the number of parts kept to an absolute mininum.

I would most definitely recomend this boat to the larger paddler, bags of room for legs and feet. My size 13s may just be a sqeeze but anything less than that should have tons of room.

I am 29 years old and have paddled for the past 10 years, I am a class V creekboater and aspiring playboater. I have paddled many different playboats in the constant search of one that will not cause my lower extremities to loose all feeling. I have owned two other liquid logic playboats the pop, and the big wheel both because they fit well (except for the feet in the big wheel) and they play well.

After becoming tired of shoehorning myself into the big wheel I looked for the vision to be just as great a playboat but with a little extra room. After months of waiting I finally got it out on the Lower Yough in Ohiopyle Pa at two completely different levels.

Squirrely is how I would describe my first impression of this boat in the water. It wants to spin and spin alot. I stepped out quickly and adjusted my seat to attain a balanced position with a quick turn of a screwdriver. It is super easy to adjust the seat and thigh braces you only need turn the screwdriver you no longer have to cram your hand behind the seat post to hold on to the nut. It's a great feature.

2'6 on the gauge is a standard level for the yough creating a couple nice surfing holes on Entrance Rapid Nemo's and Little Nemo's. Nemo's is a nice wave hole about 4 feet deep in the trough with a nice foam pile on top. I was quick to kick off the rust of a five month absence from playboating nailing big blunts both left and right. The rails made it easy to gain speed as you drive to the shoulder to throw the bow down. The spin disc helps hold the boat nicely on the wave as the big wheel had a tendency to get blown off after throwing aggressive manuevers. I'm not that proficient at looping but the boat got around real well. I should only get better at it though with this boat. Ends also come easy to the Vision and are way more controlled and balanced than the big wheel allowing for my first good clean cartwheels.

8'0 on the gauge is a high water level with about 12,000 cfs. At first I felt like a cork in a toilet bowl, as the vision tried to spin as I ferried out across large wavetrains, however after some time I became quite comfortable in the raging brown torent. The water needs to be a little lower for the epic big water waves to be prime, but the surfs That Dan Sullivan and I did grab were sweet. That edge really holds well even on the dynamic surging waves we were attempting to ride. We both got the biggest aerial bounces and blunts of our lives and were stoked on how fun the Vision is. After an hour and a half in sub 30 temps we called it a day.......

Overall the vision 56 is the best playboat I have yet to paddle. It performs all the old school cartwheel type tricks with ease and is definately capable of introducing many playboaters to the aerial realm. Out fitting is solid and easy to adjust and for this year they even raised the seat giving the boater greater leverage for throwing down. Mine came with the airbag but I still prefer a foam block. To each his own. The Vision 56 Design combines the best attributes of the space cadet series with the Bigwheel, and added the rails to really make it hold an edge and accelerat across the wave face. Great boat Shane.

I am 5'10" 175 and have been paddling for close to 20 years--the past 5 years I have probably averaged close to 150 days per year on the water. I have been recommending the Vision to paddlers for the past several months without giving it a test ride; just going on what I have seen of fellow paddlers on the Po' at Great Falls.

Sunday, March 27, 2005 I had the opportunity to finally give the Vision a test run at Center Chute on the Potomac. The level was between 5.3 and 5.4, closer to 5.4, on the Little Falls gauge--about perfect for this legendary playspot, which was a wave with a good foam pile in this day!

While attaining up to Center Chute I was a little skeptical of how the boat would perform: I was pearling quite a bit in the flat water and on eddy lines on the attainment. Well, most of us never go out to play in flatwater and what the Vision lacks on flatwater and eddylines it more than makes up for on a wave.

I went out for my first ride and flushed on my attempt at a Blunt. However, on my second ride I went off--Blunts both ways, grinds and a Helix--which are few and far between for me. The vision was incredibly fast on the wave in a front surf and even faster when you put it on edge--that rail system is just unbelievable. There were so many times I thought I was going to flush and didn't simply by putting the Vision on edge. It was the loosest boat I have ever been in! Moreover, it was incredibly easy to throw down.

I spent about 3 hours at Center Chute in the Vision and had a hard time leaving. I was able to throw some loops as well and I am pretty sure I could have thrown a couple of Donkey Flips, but I was swimming in the outfitting and was afraid of coming out of the boat if I tried. No telling what I could have pulled off if I had tighter hip pads and a seat belt--not that I am advocating the wearing of seatbelts!! I have paddled every other Liquid Logic Playboat and not liked any of them. Shane finally got this one right!!!

If anyone is in the market for a new playboat--this is definitely a boat one should look at!!

If you are in the DC area you can E-mail Jim Buley at
[mail address protected from spambots with javascript] to set up a demo.

SYOTR,

Steve