Antix review from Alex Barham.

I'm telling you, the Antix is an awesome design!

Ana-Maniac

Have I mentioned Ana-Maniac recently?  Or ever on this blog?

She's a very shy cat and we share a home.  Her mom is the same mom that gave birth to my cat L...  He is a year older than Ana.  I trapped him in a nearby wooded area after noticing him as a kitten.  I also tried to catch his tortie mother,  with the pedestrian but apt name "Momma Kitty" as I called her, but she was trap wary.  I caught a possum one night, which I let go of course.  It was an adventure.
L... was an older kitten when I finally trapped and eventually tamed him.  He was fixed as a feral and has a docked ear.  I view this as a badge of honor... a mark of a feral kitten who came to be part of my household.  He loves me unabashedly and is an incredible pet.  He doesn't trust any other human though.  My older cat C.. views him with disdain, as she should since she is far fancier than he is.  L... is a wonderful goofball.  He always sits by me on the keyboard bench with me when I practice, and I have dedicated a simple version of Maple Leaf Rag to him as his theme song.  Here's the original version:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMAtL7n_-rc

I didn't give up on catching Momma Kitty.  But she was smart, and I had to be patient.  The following summer came around and she had more kittens.  Trapping Momma required a plan.  I set food near the trap for a few days, then just inside the entrance, then fully inside.  It took weeks.  She was wary.  Finally I had success. I was able to trap her and one of her babies, a dilute tortie kitten. Two traps set in case you were wondering.   I had Momma Kitty fixed and released her where she was found.  No more kittens from her, I knew of three of her litters and that was after I discovered her.  Sadly after a month or two from being fixed, she disappeared.  I hope the best for her.  I think of her often. 
The kitten I had trapped that night, I had fixed as well, as a feral with a docked ear.  I was going to let her go as I had her Momma a couple days previous. But it was torrentially raining and I couldn't make myself do it.   She was an older kitten, again, and I tried to tame her.  I named her "Anna" after the Beatles' cover of the Arthur Alexander song.  Valerie and Dave helped me with her and rechristened her "Ana-Maniac".  I loved, and love this. 
Ana was not easily tamed, and I let her into 'gen-pop' from the room I had her in, a couple weeks earlier than I should. She had been kept in a large wire dog pen in a spare bedroom for a few weeks... the cage was  loan from Valerie and Dave... for which I am eternally grateful.   I had used the same wire pen with L..., but whereas he had a "Helen Keller at the water fountain" moment when he realized I was his friend and not a predator, Ana never had this epiphany.  Eventually I let her have free roam of the house, and she and L... are fast friends forever, whilst C... ignores them both and is visibly relieved to be left alone without aggravation.
Friends, what I did is get L... a kitten.  A buddy.  A best friend.  A BFF.  Ana-Maniac hides if I stand up and walk around. Sometimes she graces us with sitting on the couch with the rest of us.  But she is always, always, wary of me.
I tell her out loud that she is here at home, and that her life is valuable; that she reminds me that her life and all life is valuable, and that if I have the honor of keeping her safe, warm, out of the rain, and the hot, and the cold, well I am thankful.
She looks at me as if I'm the Crazy Cat Lady. I point out that the threshold of CCL status is 4 cats and I only have 3. I don't think I've convinced her. 

Too Many Boats - Jerry Vandiver

So there was this monolith, this giant wave of confusion and discourdant  sounds, that would follow me as I ran up the beach, only this race would last my entire life.  And chasing as every despair and failure I could conjure, all I could do was run, silly red queen running faster than the truth.

Information on raft and paddlecat materials by Ben Robinson

My friend Ben Robinson shared his families' findings on raft and paddlecat construction and materials:   "We researched for rafts and here’s the quick and dirty I learned. Keep in mind that all the common rafts and cats are over-built as they are designed for commercial use. The four main inflatable boat materials are PVC, Urethane, Hypalon, and Neoprene, the first two being plastics and the second two being rubber based. Only the Shredder cats use Neoprene to my knowledge and I don’t know much about it. The other three materials are all applied to a center layer of strong woven nylon or similar fabric. Hypalon is a trade name for a rubber-based coating and it is grippy, rolls up very small, and is the easiest to glue on accessories or patches to in case of emergency. Being rubber based, all the seams are glued, not welded. Over time the glue can break down but it takes many years for this to happen. Like 20+ years. It is expensive as far as materials go. It’s probably the material to choose if you pack it up often due to its foldability. It also makes for a soft ride. PVC is stiffer, can have welded seams instead of glued seams, but it doesn’t pack as tightly. It’s super tough and slips over rocks easier than rubber and it can offer a “sportier” ride due to its rigidity. Pump it up tight and you’ve got a flipping machine! PVC is less expensive than rubber but the labor to weld the seams washes out any savings. The only drawback I could tell was that over time PVC can develop tiny pin holes, or so I read. Again I am talking many years down the road, and that’s what pumps are for. Finally, urethane is also very stiff, is very slippery (I have learned this is both good and bad), but rolls up about like a refrigerator does. Urethane is a different type of plastic than PVC, I think it’s maybe a composite rubber plastic blend or something. It can also be welded so the delamination of seams in the future is a non-issue. It supposedly holds air the best and it can be easily glued just like rubber so long as you don’t ever apply 303 Protectant. It is the most expensive material so it is not used very often. At the end of the day they each have their advantages so I would say choose the boat design and company/warranty over the materials used as they are all good. Also check out which ones are made in the USA because sending one to Mexico or China for a major repair would suck. "

Allons Kayak en France!

Jackson Antix Review

I demoed the Jackson Antix on the Nantahala July 3rd. I was interested in a boat I could have on the roof racks, suitable for whatever whitewater came up to paddle. Yes I have a lot of boats right now, but they are all pretty specific to either a creek or a playboat day. I had no "river runner". The Nirvana, which I am learning to like more, (and more about that boat coming soon in another review) is a 9 ft., highly rockered, fast creek boat and not something I would enjoy on the class II Mulberry Fork here in Alabama. It's also a big boat for me to load on the roof racks. I know some of you will roll your eyes about that comment but for shorter people like me the amount of PITA loading a boat will influence my choice. The slicy boats I have are fun but I wouldn't feel comfortable in them on a creek run.  I needed that river runner I could depend on for any day.  I put on the Nantahala in the medium Antix, with Joan S and Amanda F.  and immediately it just felt like the right size boat for me. It is surprisingly light. I was able to muscle it around, and the stern allows for slicing into eddies and fast ferries. I didn't stern squirt it yet. 

The seat was all the way forwards, so the seat pan was on the edge of uncomfortable. I was hesitant to change this at first as I didnt want to get backendered. But I decided to move it one notch back and it was fine. I may try one more notch back next. The stern never grabbed, but I was also being mindful of my posture. I'm sure putting the seat all the way back would make stern squirts easier. *stern squirt = standing your boat on the stern end on purpose.  *backender = standing your boat on the stern end by mistake...
I didn't boof it as it wasn't my boat (yet), but I will be boofing it a bunch in the future. I did catch some dynamic eddies including the left eddy at Patton's Run, and Root Canal. I also did some rock spins and hole spins and surfing.
I also caught eddies at Nantahala Falls; Billboard, tried for Rock Block, some river right eddies and then ran the Wildwater/Racer's line.  What a fun run!
I've griped about Jackson Kayak outfitting before.  Well I have changed my mind about it.  While I am still annoyed at times with the loose feel of the bulkhead, it is countered by the ease of being able to release the bulkhead tension to relax my legs, then tighten the tension back to run rapids.  I also thought the molded in thigh hooks would be less effective than they actually are; though they are not adjustable, they are comfortable for me as is.  The backband is effective and doesn't ride down.   Wave Sport remains my favorite outfitting but on the other hand the more elaborate outfitting WS and Dagger have means more weight overall.  I like Liquid Logic Bad-Ass outfitting as well, except for the backband sliding down.  My least favorite outfitting remains Pyranha, specifically the angle of the thigh hooks, but some people prefer them so a lot of this is simply body shape and leg position preference.

It rolls super easy; the boat being so light helps with rolling as well. I was worried that the Antix would feel wide like the Dagger Axiom does (to me), but it does not!  Again the medium Antix feels like it was made for someone my size, which is 5'6", 165 lbs, 32 inseam. I have only paddled the Antix once, and only on the familiar and friendly Nantahala, but so far I do not have a single negative comment about the boat. It may very well be my favorite design ever. Time will tell. I didn't really expect to like it THAT much, but for today at least I am smitten... my one regret is that I waited this long to try it!   This design came out in winter of 2016.  

Now, like I said earlier I don't have any negatives to report about the design but it is a lightweight hull, 36 lbs.  Let's see how it holds up to my tender mercies on rockier runs like Greenbriar. The light hull is something new for me; I've been driving tanks.
My first boat 20 years ago was a Dagger RPM; while they look similar superficially the Antix is quite different. The Antix is not as narrow, it has a higher leg position, and the hull is not as round - it is a full-on planing hull.

Here's a commercial Jackson Kayak made about the Antix: https://youtu.be/OdiYUvWNNb4
I had to laugh when I saw this video, because a lot of what they are talking about relates exactly to someone like me.  "If you're not 100% comfortable on a run in a playboat, but bored on the run in a creekboat" - yep this is what I was looking for and I believe it will fit that niche perfectly.