Friday, February 12, 2010

The never-ending debate:what is the best creek boat?

Everybody wants to find the perfect boat for them.With so many to choose from now,and with the advance in design,its hard to find the boat that is perfect for you.Every time you get on boatertalk you see Q&A on what boat to buy,what not to buy,etc.All the new designs are good from every company,but it usually ends up at Pyranha,Dagger and Liquid Logic.My first creek season I had Pyranha m:3,and i loved it but it developed a crack along a chine that was unrepairable,so naturally i wanted to try something different so i got a Jefe.It was sick,it seemed to boof better,it was bigger ,so i was more comfy,and it really stayed on top of the water,I found my shit!After paddling that Jefe till it was dead,i again wanted to try something different,and it just so happened a friend was selling his dagger nomad 8.5 for real cheap,so i scooped it up.The nomad did everything the jefe did,but it was faster,more nimble,and more responsive.Once a jefe man,now a nomad man.This went on for about 2 years until i again destroyed it on the green river and reached the same issue again:what creek boat to buy?I have always been interested in pyranha since it was my first creeker and some of my best friends paddle everests,burns, and karnali's and say they love it.My good friend matt wallace was kind enough to loan me his broken,pitoned karnali which i boiled out,beat out,and welded till it looked pretty close to good except for a slight modification in the rocker profile,and we put on the canyon at around 8 inches and fired off the falls as my first few strokes in the karnali.It was unbelievable!This boat has all the things i like about jefe and the nomad but its faster than both and more stable with just as much performance on hard rapids.My first few runs in it were on the Little River Canyon and the Nantahala cascades, so i got to feel alot of different types of water and different situations with the variety of whitewater on those two runs.It boofs easily but it has just the right amount rocker to be able to drop the bow easily too and the edge is perfect for stability and control.I love this boat,if you are looking for a new boat,at least demo a karnali,it is the shit.here is a little head cam footage of the cascades in the karnali in really cold weather,enjoy