The Switch is an excellent park and play boat which can also be used on rivers. The outfitting is very basic but very effective as well as being comfortable. I am a little over 6″ with size 11 feet and I remained comfortable in the boat for long sessions.
Necky has a good reputation for excellent wave boats and this is no exception. It is really fast both forwards and when carving which allows big moves such as blunts to be pulled effortlessly and the loose hull will let you spin till you’re dizzy. On a big wave or in this surf the Switch excels and offers some very fun, dynamic rides.
The thing that most surprised me about this boat was how good it was when it was vertical. The boat was a dream to cartwheel, the slicey ends made long, vertical sequences easy and I was soon able to pull completely clean sequences and the occasional tricky wu. The boat was incredibly easy to stall on both the stern and bow and flat water cartwheels and cleans were soon learnt due to the boats forgiving nature.
I paddled the switch on grade 4+ in Scotland and also ran several 20ft + waterfalls in it. Although I am close to the top weight recommendation for this boat I found that it still handled well on rivers and its forward speed and manoeuvrability kept me safe at all times. When landing big drops the boat did tend to sub-out a bit but quickly resurfaced.
Overall this is a boat which can do everything. Unlike other all-round boats this does excel in many things such as playboating / freestyle.
Words: Bill Anderson
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