Insider Riverboat
On the eve of a new year of boat designs, Scott MacGregor asks,
“What is a river runner?” You’ll see on the next two pages that we’ve reviewed a
couple “river running” kayaks—Pyranha’s h:3 and Liquidlogic’s Lil’ Joe. For weeks, I’ve been pondering and procrastinating writing this introduction to the reviews. In the last few years, boat designs, and to an even greater extent, marketing, have blurred the lines between creek boat, river runner and playboat. Now more than ever, the question begs to be asked and the answer is elusive. What is a river running boat? Swirling ice cubes around in my rye glass (rye is a
Canadian whiskey, invented in 1791 and the precursor to bourbon, but smoother so you can sip and enjoy it rather than just slugging it back) counting down the hours until the Big Apple falls, I soon realized that in setting out to define river running boat I have embarked on a quest for the Holy Grail. So in the hopes of saving my New Year’s Eve and offering you a wider perspective than a drunken guy at a desk, I thought I’d do a little field research to see what other paddlers had so say about it. I learned that to define a river running boat one must
first select the runner (he who holds the stick) and then choose a river (section of water for which to run), produc- ing combinations and permutations resulting in a mind-bog- gling number of possible boat designs. However, more important than a flashback to high school finite math, I learned that it’s the spirit of river running that matters, not the specifications on the pages of glossy brochures.
River running is any method of travelling on a river that begins in one place and ends in another, regardless of direction, purpose, water characteristics or type of craft used. I think Rapid, as well as many others, have shown over the last several years that river runners can be whatever boat a paddler chooses on a given day. Of course these choices are not always the best, and that is when what is not a river runner becomes painfully obvious.—Gary George, river carny since ‘95.
Eric Jackson put it best: “Last year’s playboats are this year’s river runners.”—James Robinson, aspiring playboater.
I'd say the design criteria to look for are: enough length to pro- vide hull speed for ferries across fast moving water; adequate bow volume, bow rocker, stern volume, stern rocker and the right placement of edges so the boat will carve, paddle with both ends riding out of the water, resist catching edges when crossing eddy lines and boils, and resurface quickly off drops and in highly aer- ated water; and all-day comfort. Adequate volume is also required so the boat can hold the basic safety gear such as throw bag, first aid kit, break-down paddle and food, without compro- mising performance.—John O’Leary, “It’s not a swim if you’re in the eddy when you pull.”
River Loc Dawg Aleksander Bak
Unfortunately for you, Scott MacGregor, what’s a river runner is all a matter of opinion, so its pretty tough to publish an article on river running boats isn't it? For some, a river runner is still a Crossfire or Vortex, or it could be a creek style boat like a CFS, maybe for some it’s a Jive, and some might run class V in a spud boat like a G-Force…—Dax Jacklin, age 30, married with two kids.
For me, a river runner is the boat that I take when I’m going to a new, unfamiliar run.—Dave Walker, 50, first boat Dancer XT.
You don't have to define yourself as a river runner by putting down dedicated playboaters. It's all about fun. It's all about danc- ing with the river, connecting with something bigger, more power- ful, and at the same time simpler than the path that we find our- selves on most of the time. Just because you run shuttle, doesn't mean that you are having a more meaningful experience.—Thom Lambert, tight and technical potter.
Look around the river. You will see that the boaters who stay with the sport the longest are indeed the river runners. Playboaters come and go. Why then do boat companies focus so much R&D on playboats? Why not focus on the boaters who will paddle the rivers around the world until the day they die? These boaters will outlast all!—Barbara Sehn, 14 years on Tennesee creeks.
2004 Spring 27
photo by Ryan Creary
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