My criteria for stability in a whitewater canoe is as follows.
A hull is thought to be “stable” up until the time I fall out of it.
Thereafter, it is considered “unstable”.
@jester42 said:
Twitchest boat I ever paddled: Perception HD-1; a real adventure in paddling…
I second that. I’ve said for almost 40 years that the HD-1 was the only canoe I’ve ever known that had no initial stability, no secondary stability, but only final stability . . . upside down. I’ve seen really top boaters roll over into the water the first time in that boat before they even got their paddle in the water.
But it may hold the distinction of being the first Royalex short class whitewater canoe (13’), if that distinction is not held by the Royalex Mad River Flashback.
I was reading cboats.net for the first time in years yesterday and saw a thread where Jim Michaud, New England’s premier hairboater for decades, said the Outrage X was his favorite canoe for river running, the Outrage for creeking, the Caption for play, and the Whitesell Piranha for big water. He likes rounded chine hulls because they are less likely to unintentionally grab a powerful eddyline in D2O.
@pblanc said:
My criteria for stability in a whitewater canoe is as follows.A hull is thought to be “stable” up until the time I fall out of it.
Thereafter, it is considered “unstable”.
By those criteria I’ll never find stable boat 
@Glenn MacGrady said:
@jester42 said:
I was reading cboats.net for the first time in years yesterday and saw a thread where Jim Michaud, New England’s premier hairboater for decades, said the Outrage X was his favorite canoe for river running, the Outrage for creeking, the Caption for play, and the Whitesell Piranha for big water.
Jim is a nice guy and a great paddler - definitely above my skill level, but we cross paths on occasion. Went looking through my pictures to see if I could find one of him in an Outrage. Best I could do was this video with him running the Funnel on the Lower Millers at about 00:43 - looks like it might be an Outrage. Keep an eye on him as he bounces through the bottom at around 00:51.
https://vimeo.com/259510798
This section of the river ends in Millers Falls, so if you did the class with Tom Foster, you were probably on the Millers River.
I hadn’t seen a Whitesell for years, until this summer when I did a Dead River run with Boston AMC and Norm was paddling one.
Yes it was the Millers. I thought the Whitesell Piranha was the second easist whitewater OC-1 to roll.
Regretably I passed on my Whitesell Piranha to a much younger paddler this Summer.
Heavy boat and built to take a lot of abuse. I enjoyed paddling it, but only after it was off the canoe rack, and in the water.
I always parked as close to the water as I possibly could at the put in.
Remember the first Whitesell I ever saw. It was in the window of Nolan Whitesell’s shop on the Nantahala.
Was out of my price range at the time.
I bought mine from a real estate agent who was, let us say, NOT a knowledgeable canoe paddler.
He bought it to use as a fishing boat??? 
Every time he took it out he dumped it several times, and finally gave up on using it for fishing. 
He stored it, and it sat in storage for about 10 years. When I got it; it was like new. He was happy to get rid of it; let’s just say I got it very…cheap, Nobody else had even come to look at it…
The only time I ever dumped it I was sitting on top of the Perception saddle, stretching my legs.
Leaned over to look at something on the river bottom. My sunglasses fell off the top of my head, and I lunged out over the gunwales to grab them. Bad mistake, but friends behind me had a good “what the hell is he doing” laugh.
Never did find the sunglasses…
One of my favorite whitewater solo canoes was the Mohawk Probe 12 II.
A great little all round boat; had a lot of fun in mine.
P.S. Eric, love that textbook “air brace” I saw you doing in the Zoar Gap video. Really special!
@jester42 said:
P.S. Eric, love that textbook “air brace” I saw you doing in the Zoar Gap video. Really special!
Hey - you’re not suppose to look at that!
At least you didn’t mention the gunwale grab or the sculling hand brace. It is a classic. This is what Bob is talking about.
Coincidentally, the blue boat that goes through first is a Millbrook Outrage. I was in my old Encore.
Who hasn’t done an air brace going over on the off side - everyone I hope.
If you are going to crash and burn, at least do it with style and a touch of drama.
Hey! Sometimes you get lucky.
An air brace, coupled with a high quality hip snap will sometimes save you from a swim…sometimes is the key word.
No matter how ugly a run you make; if you’re still upright at the end of the run; it’s all good.
I’d rather run a nasty class 3 backwards than upside down.
Just tell the peanut gallery (on shore),who are watching what happens to you before they give it a go…
“I meant to do that”.
Someone might actually believe you…
NOT!
BOB
@jester42 said:
Hey! Sometimes you get lucky.
An air brace, coupled with a high quality hip snap will sometimes save you from a swim…sometimes is the key word.
Almost all my swims are just like in that video - going over the the offside. Once I am out over that offside gunwale there is no coming back. Righting pry - not likely. Roll - in my dreams.
I’d rather run a nasty class 3 backwards than upside down.
Just tell the peanut gallery (on shore),who are watching what happens to you before they give it a go…
“I meant to do that”.
Someone might actually believe you…
Backwards is OK, but there it no upside down for me - it is either upright or in the water, so I am pretty careful about what I run. I’m OK with easy III’s, but once it starts getting up closer to IV, I’m more likely to walk. If I am going to crash and burn, I’m more likely to do it with other open boaters. Some kayakers aren’t real happy about pushing my swamped canoe to shore - they expect you to roll.