Lettmann Blade

[chimaera]

Hi there,
has everyone ever paddled the latest lettmann, supposed to be called "blade"? It has actually been released sort of some time ago, but I have never seen one on the pitch, even if I reckon it might be more popular in Germany more than other countries. Cheers, thanks

[jockel]

Hi Yes i own the "new" Lettmann Blade. It is a great boat for offensive players!

[chimaera]

Cool, thanks for your comment. So, does that mean doesn't have much volume? no big deal as I play as a chaser, but how would you compare it to other boats, judging by other parameters such as maneuverability and top speed? danke... U.

[jockel]

Ok i try to compare the boat with some other i paddled.
The Blade is as fast as the Fighter cause the Blade has the same under water design as the Fighter. Some people say that the Blade is a bit slower than an Vampire but i´ve seen a lot of Vampires who lost the startball at an game against an Blade so it is also a realy fast boat. The Blade has a volume reduced upper deck in the front and rear (at the sprayskirt it has the most volume). If you are a good boater you can do cartwheels with this boat. The normal action to turn a boat realy fast ist to turn it on a point (six pence ;-)) [stern turn]. You can get the rear of the Blade with an reverse sweep stroke extremly deep in the water, if you are realy good you can do this also with the front of this boat ergo extremly good maneuverability .
In an offensive situation you can get not only your nose under an opponent but also you can "load" the opponent on your upper front deck so that you can control his boat. Because of the low volume in the upper front deck you can get realy close to the players shoulder if you dive with your nose under his boat.
According to the low volume upper deck the boat isnt small, cause you have to get the volume somethere. Thanks to the wide upper deck you can control your oppent realy good if you are under him.
But caution if you paddle an racekayak-style you can get problems with the wide front ( opposit to the Vampire wich is realy small there).

Actualy i have 90kg and that is not a problem with the blade but if you want to be the fastest on the water you should weight not much more than 75kg in the blade.

[chimaera]

All right, seems interesting. I take it this is the boat you are paddling at the moment. Your review was definitely helpful and accurate, thanks a lot! Best wishes, U.