AIRE SPUD - WHY IS IT SO FUN?

 

SPUD NATION at the Nanty takeover

So... why is an Aire SPUD so fun?

I have paddled other inflatable kayaks, aka "duckies", and all of them have been mellow rides.  (I have not paddled a Thrillseeker - yet.)

The SPUD was designed as a ducky for kids to paddle.   Bigger kids aka adults decided to try it, too.   What was discovered is that with grown-up sized people the SPUD paddles like a playboat - which is a small whitewater kayak designed to spin fast and do tricks -  the SPUD feels like a combination of a playboat and a pool toy mixed together and it's just plain fun. 

And inexpensive.

I have spent many seasons over the years in playboats like my Wave Sport EZG-50, and the Spud feels similiar to them.  I was surprised too.

What are the gotchas?  I can't roll it, and I'm not sure I should try to learn.  My shoulders are patched together already.   

I am not sure I can ever learn to climb back in it wearing my PFD if I can't touch the bottom.

Sideways in a hole is a good way to get flipped.  Fast.  Aka 'windowshaded'.

Once you venture into class III it's a spicy ride - on the Ocoee I have to do my hardboat lines and plan ahead.   

I'm not sure what the max weight would be in a SPUD before it becomes a drag.  People over 185 who want to do class III I would send to TATER-ville.  The TATER is the bigger model of the SPUD.
I wrote this review originally on FB, and some responders said they weigh more like 200 lbs and love the SPUD.  I guess it all depends on your skill and spice levels.

There is a bigger version called the TATER. A friend asked: What does the TATER feel like?  I replied, "I haven't really paddled one except at Thread the Needle on the Hiwassee. I would say not as scary. A SPUD can feel scary like a tilt-a-whirl ride lol."
Another friend who is much bigger than me and loves the TATER said, "The TATER feels like a small raft. It’s very stable but also very fun. It’s rowdy, but not so rowdy that you’re constantly out of the boat."

Some items to consider:  you will need an inflator and a top-off pump. My top-off pump is a K-100. https://k-pump.com/products/k-100?variant=41820277702698
You must also consider where to store your SPUD or TATER.  It must be stored where mice cannot get to it.  Mice and rats love to chew raft material.  It's best to store them inflated, if you have the space.  But I don't have the space, so I don't, simple as that.
Finally, if you are venturing past class II, thigh straps are mandatory.  A lot of my friends like the NRS thigh straps.  I have the Aire deluxe thigh straps and they serve me, but I think they are rather long, and I'm not, so next time I am trying a pair of Party Wave thigh straps I bought at NOC.
You will still need to wear a PFD, and have a good paddle, and a helmet, if you plan on paddling whitewater, no matter what craft.

Weekend of fun including SPUD/TATER Nanty Takeover and SPUD the Ocoee trip 2

 So... trip report for Sept 26-28 weekend.. I went up Friday and stayed at Mary's house in Andrews.  She had to work Saturday at ERA and I had only brought my SPUD with me - no hardshell kayaks - because I knew I was going to do the Spud/Tater Nanty Takeover and it was a blast!   It rained a good bit, and I was glad to be in my drysuit, though I only had a t-shirt and leggings on underneath. 

Photo Bomb with blingies on our faces

SPUD and TATER NATION

Afterwards I checked out the items for sale at the Nanty Fest.  The new Antix 3 looks sharp.  The double rails down the hull - like the rails on the Rockstar V - very cool. 

New Jackson Antix 3.0

Double rails on the hull of the Antix 3.0

Double rails on the hull of the Antix 3.0

Went to Tom and Lola's for dinner and I got to say hello to Cliffy cat. 

Cliffy!

Sunday we met at the Ocoee take-out.  Roscoe P. Wavetrain had brought my new to me Dagger Kayaks stratos from River Sports Outfitters in Knoxville.  We strapped it to my roof racks and locked it, then went to the rails put-in with my trusty SPUD.  

My new Dagger Stratos 14.5 sm touring kayak

Right off the bat I tried something cute going into Staging Eddy and flipped on a crease and swam.  hmmm that's not what I expected.  Am I going to have one of those days?  Thankfully that was the only gotcha on the run and I had great lines.  

Gonzo Shoals I ran around the big rock and used the little hole there to turn me, then ferrired to far river left.  I haven't tried the walk-the-plank in the SPUD yet.  

Broken Nose, I have decided the main line makes the most sense, because a swim there is right by the bank and easy rescue, whereas a swim at the sneak sucks in a myriad of indescribable ways, though I'll try.  A swim at the sneak leaves you in the middle of the river, with no way for your friends to easily get you.  So.  I ran the main line, did a sort of boof off the far downstream side of the curler at the top, landed in the main line eddy there, and headed left.  I will be grinning about my line there for the rest of this week!

That's my second Broken Nose SPUD main line, so far.

Moon Chute, then boof line at Double Suck, then the meat of Double Trouble.  Flipper I did right side eddy ferry to the left, decided not to eddy out and ran the standard line.  I thought then about getting out at Go Forth, even though our cars were at the bottom.  I felt gassed. I felt intimidated.

The others were not stopping, and they encouraged me to go, so I said alright. Their support meant so much to me. 

Tablesaw- great line - I followed Mary.  Diamond Splitter, etc. etc. all the rapids were golden.  And I decided to run Hell Hole, because Eva was in my head saying do it.  And I did, it did try to grab me but I got away, lol.  

Another great SPUD the OCOEE day and I look forward to many more!

No pictures on the Ocoee - didn't bring my phone. 

Fun Stuff 2025 Part 2

 Blogger is not letting me update my blog so I'm starting a part 2.  

I'd like to find a better hosting platform but a minimal search this morning didn't come up with much.

Anyway: 

April 12 Upper/Lower Mulberry. In the Jackson Antix 2.0.  With Peggy, Jie, Kevin S., and Westin.  Level around 2.1.  Kind of too low for the Upper but we were happy to get on it at least once this season. 

April 18 First dive of the year at Blue Water Park.  With Bethany G.  My first dive with my new 5mm wetsuit which is a Henderson Aqualock.  It is very warm!  

April 26 Diving at Blue Water Park.  With Helen, Andy, and Reed.  Nice couple of dives.

Me mind-melding with a young bass. Photo by Helen H. 

May - we did the Mulberry and Locust. We had fun.  rinse and repeat.

May 24-26 BCC Hello to the Hiwassee.  We stayed at AU.  I did the Hiwassee Saturday and Sunday, and then the Cartecay on Monday.  Fun in the rainstorms. The water was colder than usual on the H so I wore my drysuit both days.

May 30 - June 1 TVCC Paddle School.  In the Jackson Antix 2.0 m.  Hiwassee both days.  I helped Paris with his class as a support boater.  Sunday I was going to go on Ocoee but the group wanted to leave too early for me to break camp, so I went back to the Hiwassee with Pat Carver's class as a tag-a-long.

June 7 - 8 Stress and Rescue class.  

June 21 Bear Creek Float.  In the Jackson Antix 2.0 m.  With Peggy, Juliet and Michael, and several canoeists.  I love this float!

June 22 CeCe SSI Try Mermaid and CeCe/Gus SSI Snorkel Diver.   Great time!  At Blue Water Park.  Taught by Bethany at https://www.instagram.com/mermaiding.and.more/

CeCe is 7 and is part fish!

June 27 - July 3 Week of Rivers 2025 WOR CCC.  In the Jackson Mixmaster 7.5 and the Antix 2.0 m.  Great time and reasonably dry weather too. 
Saturday - Tuckaseegee in the Mixmaster
Sunday - Nantahala short trip Ferebee to Surfers with Mona
Monday - Nantahala Ferebee thru the falls. I walked the falls with my swimmer's ear still going on
Tuesday - Tuckaseegee, memorial trip honoring Richard Hopley aka OC1- Kanubi
Wednesday - Nantahala Ferebee thru the falls.  I had a great line at the falls.

July 13 - 100th Dive.  At Blue Water Park.  With Bethany.  She made a sign on her dive slate and took some pics. So stoked to have gotten my 100th dive!  

July 19 Hiwassee.  In the Jackson Antix 2.0m.  With Helen, Andy, and Peggy.  It was raining buckets on the drive up and Helen called and asked if we could just day drink instead. (she was kidding).  The day turned out really nice, not rainy just cloudy so the air temps were nice not super hot.  

July 20 Ocoee. Rails to Go-Forth. In the Jackson Antix 2.0m.  With Mary M, Helen, Andy, Trey aka Roscoe P. Wavetrain.  After a long hiatus I returned to the Ocoee to find it exactly how I remembered - the familiar lines, the great water temps, the fun rapids.  I had two combat rolls, one below Double Trouble and one in the runout of Flipper.  Mary and I took out at Go-Forth and had lunch.  I hadn't seen Mary in ages and she's one of my best friends so it was great to catch up with her. 

Helen took a photo of my boof at Double Suck:

...and my smile after landing the boof:
 

July 26 Diving at Blue Water Park.  With Helen, Andy, and Bethany.  We saw an interesting person at the airplane.

Aug 3 Diving at Blue Water Park.  With Bethany.  Then BCC Pool Party at Jason and Kathleen's with members of the Birmingham Canoe Club.

I love my Amazon 3mm cheapie wetsuit

I had to stay local this past weekend for a family dinner.

Aug 9 Diving at Blue Water Park.  With Reed.  Then wonderful family dinner at Wooden City.

Aug 10 Coosa at 8000cfs. In the Jackson Antix 2.0m With Ryan and Ming, Rusty, Emily L, and others.  Had a combat roll at Maytag after a windowshade/head bonk.  Great surfs in Baby Gap and Moccasin Gap.

Me with my brother Frank at Wooden City. 

Rick, myself, Frank, and Sam

Diving - mid- august, I forget when. Blue Water Park.

Labor Day Weekend - 3 days, 3 rivers.  With various friends.  Saturday, Hiwassee in the Jackson Mixmaster 7.5.  Sunday, Nantahala Ferebee in the Jackson Mixmaster 7.5.  Monday, Ocoee Rails to GoForth in the Aire SPUD.   There was a luau prom at the Busbar Saturday night, so fun!

SPUD on Double Trouble, Ocoee

Sept 6th Coosa 8000.  In the Jackson Antix 2.0.  Had some nice surfs here and there, but swam Moccasin Gap after one two many attempts to get back on the wave... caught a pipeline surf on the fly so that made me feel a bit better.
Sept 7th Dive at Blue Water Park.  With Ross, Reed, and Bethany.
Sept 13th Hiwassee.  In the Jackson Antix 2.0.  I debated taking a playboat, but the Antix was in the truck already so...  and it really is the best surfing hull of all of my boats.  With members of the BCC, HCC, TVCC, and various friends of mine including Peggy, Donald W., Halie and Jes, Lorraine, Pat C., Deborah W., and many more.  I sealed the drainplug on the Antix with aquaseal, and covered it with pink duck tape so that nobody tries to unscrew it anyway, and so far the boat is much drier.  This after replacing the original drainplug with a warranty new one from Jackson. 
Camped at AU and had take-out pizza from the Gondolier.  Nice fire and camraderie.  We didn't wander over to the BusBar.  But the music was good.  The night had some crisp fall notes and was perfect to tent camp in. We debated what to do the next day.  I checked the schedule page for Apalachia and the Hiwassee was scheduled to run again.  This is not guaranteed to happen on Sundays after Labor Day.  One of my 'win the dream lottery' ideas is to lobby for it to be guaranteed on Sundays until the end of October, like it used to be years ago.
Interesting note - it's not releases we want, but power generation - if 2 generators are running then the river is good to go.  The waters of the Hiwassee are trapped in 2 giant tunnels going from the dam through a mountain and then down to the powerhouse, which is right above where we put-in.  Also - it's not a typo - Apalachia is the name of the reservoir.
Sept 14th Hiwassee.  In the Aire Spud.   Sunday we had options.  I had brought the SPUD thinking maybe I could get another run on the Ocoee in it.  The consensus was to do the Hiwassee again since it was running, and I said hmmm I'll take the SPUD.  I didn't expect the SPUD to be so freaking fun on the Hiwassee, but it was!  360's, surfing, eddy hopping, Threading the Needle, fast ferry at 3 Chutes.  Everyone needs SPUDs and/or the bigger version TATERs, they just haven't found out yet.

Peggy has joined the Aire TATER NATION

Sept 21st  Dive Blue Water park.  With Ross and some of his friends from NC.  Airplane, Dragon, it's all wonderful.

Sept 26-28th  Visit Friends in NC.  Spud/Tater Nanty takeover.  Ocoee.  In the Aire Spud.
Trip report here: https://dangerjudy.blogspot.com/2025/09/weekend-of-fun-including-spudtater.html

Me in my happy place - the Hiwassee

 

Hiwassee River, 09-13-25. Photo by Peggy Robertson.

I wanted to post this photo of myself in celebration for 26 years of paddling the Hiwassee River.  It was my first whitewater river back when I started, and it still remains one of my favorite places on Earth. As one of our paddling clan said, "She's the mother of us all" because the Hiwassee is where so many Southeastern paddlers take their first learning trips and become part of the river family.  Also I really like this picture.

I swam.

 

SPUD the Ocoee was awesome!

Here is me buzzing about my great SPUD run on the Ocoee Labor Day!

Love getting my hair cut by my cousin Regina!

My cousin Regina owns Salon on Crescent and it's always great to visit with her.