I demoed Dennis C's medium Jackson Flow on the Hiwassee Sunday. I had paddled his Flow once before briefly on the Mulberry Fork last year and wanted to give it another try.
I've been spending all of my river time in my medium Jackson Antix 2.0, and expected the Flow to have a similar feel. Once we put on and I ferried over to the grasses where we get everyone together, I thought, this thing is a pig. It felt sluggish and slow. I was surprised by this and had a suspicion that seat position was the key. I pulled over at the teaching island and moved the seat back from the middle to one notch back. (One great thing about Jackson outfitting is how easy it is to adjust the seat and bulkhead on the fly.) I was right; moving the seat back let the bow release some and it let me edge the boat and surf. I was able to put the boat where I wanted and catch all of my little surf spots. Front surfing is my favorite thing to do in a kayak and it surfed well. I purposely did not boof any rocks as I was in a friends boat, but I also purposely went through holes just to see how the bow rocker felt; as expected it went over the holes instead of plugging them. Example being the feature at the top of Devil's Shoals.
The knee position is flatter than the Antix, and I kind of wish they had gone with the Antix knee height and am curious why they didn't. I didn't notice it after awhile and it wasn't uncomfortable. It rolls easy.
The Flow does not have the feel of a fast performance creeker, but that isn't its purpose.
To me it's like an Antix for days I don't want the slicy stern grabbing me. I think the Flow is designed for river running and creeky rocky runs with little eddies to tuck in. I like that it is shorter than most creekboats these days. No idea how it does in big water, but it does have edges which would help. I dig the boat.
*edit to add, this would be a good boat for beginners as well.
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| Me in the medium Jackson Flow |
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