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First Look: Vibe Uptown 100 Lite

Standup paddleboard or pedal kayak, with this innovative new inflatable it’s your choice

By Ric Burnley

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With all the new kayaks and paddleboards zooming around the ICAST Demo Day pond, Vibe’s new Uptown 100 Lite caught our attention with cool colors and smart rigging. In the years since Vibe first hit the water with no-nonsense fishing and recreational kayaks, they have matured into a real player in the full-feature fishing kayak race. Now, they are taking their experience and unique perspective to inflatable paddleboards.

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First Look: Vibe Uptown 100 Lite

The company’s first inflatable is a modest but exciting addition to its line-up. Starting with a drop-stitch platform with a removable fin is pretty standard for blow-up boards. But that’s where the similarities end.

The most obvious departure is the pedal system that propels the little board. The Uptown can be rigged with either their X-Drive fin drive or a new Impulse propellor drive. This gives anglers the versatility to use the fin drive in shallow water or the prop drive for long-distance hauls and forward and reverse maneuverability. If you mostly fish skinny water, then the instant shallow-water clearance of the fin drive is a perfect choice. On the other hand, if long-distance days and precise boat positioning are most important, choose the versatility of the prop drive.

To match the drive, Vibe included a special version of their Summit seat. With the same comfortable mesh back and seat and durable construction, the Uptown 100 seat features shorter legs that can fold down to pack into the boat’s carry case.

A small rudder in the tail of the board controls directions. We are stoked to see Vibe choose durable and responsive stainless steel rudder cables to attach the rudder to the control knob.

Four gear tracks make it easy to add accessories like rod holders and cup holders. The board is peppered with D-rings for strapping down gear and tackle.

Uptown On-Water Performance

The Uptown is only 10 feet long but is 39 inches wide for plenty of stability. The small footprint allows the board to weigh in at around 30 pounds and pack up with the seat and accessories into a small TSA-approved roller bag. The Uptown 100 Lite comes ready for the water with the carry bag, a double-chamber pump, either the fin or prop drive, seat, rudder and patch kit.

Wear The Appropriate Leash When Stand Up Paddleboarding
  • Always wear a leash on open bodies of water like lakes, bays, and oceans. Due to the risk of snags and entrapment, leashes should only be worn on rivers if they include a quick release attached to your life jacket.

A small inflatable paddleboard is intended to be easy to transport and store, but the short waterline usually sacrifices tracking and stability. Vibe solves the problem with the power and performance of the pedal drive and rudder.

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Pedaling the Vibe was smooth and easy. The pedal lower unit and rudder improve tracking and stability. In fact, the short board is more wind resistant adding to the pedaling performance. At only 10 feet long, the Uptown turns easily and still maintains a straight line.

The drop stitch board is stiff and sturdy. When it is time to stand and fish, the board hardly wobbles. Even with the pedal drive, there is space to stand. Behind the seat, D-rings and bungees hold a small crate with rod holders and gear.

Vibe Impulse Drive

Sitting and pedaling is comfortable and efficient. I chose to test the Impulse drive since I already have experience with the reliable X-Drive in other Vibe models. Either drive is simple and sufficient for propelling the little board.

When I was standup paddling the Uptown, the drive and rudder contributed to stability and straight line tracking.

Know The Local Hazards
  • Check navigation charts before you launch.
  • Check with those who have local knowledge of man-made and natural hazards, e.g. low-head dams; sweepers, strainers and undercuts; tides and currents; and rocks and shoals.

So, the Uptown 100 will still go anywhere and perform better than similar-size paddle-powered inflatable kayaks and boards. Now anglers looking for a small SUP don’t have to sacrifice performance on the water.

This board is super accessible for family fun with the range and versatility to take on longer adventures inaccessible to traditional kayaks and SUPs.

 

BoatsKayaks
Ric Burnley
Ric Burnley
Kayak Angler editor Ric Burnley has been kayak fishing since the dawn of the sport. In 2007, Burnley wrote The Complete Kayak Fisherman, with chapters on how-to make a PVC rod holder and glue a fish finder transducer to the hull. In 2013, he landed his dream job as editor of Kayak Angler magazine. Burnley is a regular contributor to Salt Water Sportsman, Sport Fishing, Outdoor Life, In the Bite and other print and online publications. Burnley lives in Virginia Beach with his wife, adult daughter, daughter’s boyfriend and daughter’s two cats. Experience In 2004, Ric Burnley stole his first milk crate from behind a 7-Eleven and fashioned it into a gear crate for his Ocean Kayak Prowler 15. Many years and many milk crates later, Burnley has witnessed the rise of kayak fishing from a bastardized fringe element to a legitimate industry with millions of devotees. The journey to becoming an angler started early in Burnley’s life. His father, Eric Burnley, is a renowned outdoor writer and former fishing guide, so the boy grew up in the cockpit of a charter boat and in the pages of national magazines. After college, Burnley lost easy access to his father’s boat, but not his passion for fishing. Once he had exhausted the limits of land-based angling, Burnley decided to try out a new thing called kayak fishing. About the same time, Burnley was looking for extra work to pay for his expensive addiction. His father, editor of the Mid-Atlantic Fisherman Magazine, offered him freelance assignments for the weekly publication. That led to a position as regional editor at Salt Water Sportsman, publication of The Complete Kayak Fisherman and editorship of Kayak Angler. Meanwhile, Burnley and his partner-in-crime, “Kayak Kevin” Whitley were exploring the boundaries of kayak fishing. With the bountiful Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic Ocean as their playground, the two anglers were the first to target big red drum, cobia, trophy striped bass, monster black drum, sheepshead and many other species. Once inshore species were exhausted, Burnley loaded his kayak onto motorboats and fished for bluefin tuna, blackfin tuna, king mackerel and amberjack. All the while, Burnley shared his experiences and knowledge with anglers through print, photos, video, radio, seminars and online. Almost 20 years later, Burnley continues to fish obsessively and share the stories. His recent projects for Kayak Angler cover the latest trends in forward-facing sonar and remote-controlled electric motors. Over the past two decades, kayak fishing and Ric Burnley have come a long way from PVC rod holders and stolen milkcrates. Education ● Radford University: BA English; Virginia Teacher’s License. Highlights ● Other Interests: Mountain biking, traveling, hiking, surfing and skateboarding ● Day Job: High School English teacher at an alternative school for at-risk students Fun Fact Ric’s name is a contraction of Eric. Ric is named after his father, Eric Sr. To differentiate between the two Erics, Mrs. Burnley removed her son’s E. To this day, she writes the boy’s name ‘Ric, with an apostrophe replacing the E.

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