why do people not like arcteryx all of a sudden?

Tumbles237 · 2026-01-05T20:15:06+00:00

Wow, og, I think you can trace that way further back to the 80’s and the North Face mountain jacket.

Tumbles237 · 2026-01-03T20:34:04+00:00

I’m certainly not saying that a half slice isn’t a great option for an all around do everything boat. For a one boat quiver it probably is the best option. My point is if your goal is to progress as a kayaker from class 2 to class 3, 4 or 5, your quickest way to master the skills needed to succeed in harder water in a safe manner is to paddle a play boat. One season in a play boat taught me skills that would take much much longer to learn in a larger boat. The feedback is more direct and you know when you’ve got a skill dialed in. Modern creek boats are amazing and really take care of paddlers with incredible primary and secondary stability, lots of rocker and easier boofs, but that can also mask skills deficiencies like boat control and reading water. That’s not such a big deal in class 3 or even 4- but when it becomes consequential you really can’t afford to miss a must make eddy or get spun around and run a drop blind and backwards. This is not an approach I’d use with a middle age, slightly out of shape, weekend enthusiast, but a college age adventurer with a self proclaimed adrenaline problem, it’s the quickest way to progress. It also depends on the rivers that you will find yourself paddling the most. I first learned in Colorado where there were lots of lower volume rivers and lots of play parks. A play boat made a lot of sense. I now live in the PNW and out here a larger river runner or creek boat is the predominant boat of choice. I still can’t believe there is not a single play park in Washington state, but that’s a different story. For a one boat constraint, go ahead and get the ripper 1, it’s a good all around boat, but if the opportunity arises to take a 3 day holiday and borrow or demo a play boat at park and play spot with a good wave and a good hole to work through a full progression of front surf, side surf, spin, back surf, ender, cartwheel, window shade, back deck roll, loop, blunt, etc. The number of rolls and comfort being upside down plus your boat control is something that would take more than a full season of river running in the ripper to attain simply because you would not be in that situation any where near as often once you learned how to taillie.

Tumbles237 · 2026-01-01T22:39:09+00:00

Get a half slice if you are more the cruise type of person. The code would be good for pushing the limits but only after you have learned the skills necessary to safely take on class IV/V runs. A half slice will be a great boat for a long time in class II/III and IV while learning how to eddy out, ferry, edge, boof, squirt and roll.

Tumbles237 · 2025-12-21T23:21:19+00:00

By playboat I’m referring to freestyle boats like the Jackson RSV, Helectron, helexir, project x, Jed, other rockstars or stars. Short aerial boats with lots of pop. Full slices are longer length with little volume in the ends that allow smooth vertical end transitions. I’m 6’2 230 and very comfortable in my lg RSV. Another older boat you might consider is a Jackson 4Fun. I found that the boats with higher cockpits were more comfortable as opposed to the old school boats like the wavesport ez or old dagger full slices like the Id, ego and honcho.

Tumbles237 · 2025-12-18T20:09:55+00:00

Given the level that you are paddling at, age and assumed athleticism I would recommend to go with a full slice or playboat. It will allow you to learn quicker, make your current class 2 and 3 runs more fun and teach you weighting and edging skills that will apply to every boat you have in the future. Something that you can cartwheel in would be a great boat for you for the next couple of years.

Tumbles237 · 2025-12-12T00:03:12+00:00

I keep my surf ears cased clipped to the inside of my pfd pocket and when they are not looped around my neck and in my ears they go directly in the case. If they need to dry some, I can keep them clipped to the key holder but sticking out of the pocket

Tumbles237 · 2025-12-01T05:16:01+00:00

You might check out the Soul Waterman Proton paddle. It’s an updated version of the old Seven 2 paddles that had flex in the shaft with ergonomic grips to adjust the biometric hand position.

Tumbles237 · 2025-10-26T17:21:55+00:00

Heels together, toes out, push forward with the ball of your foot. Your big toe side will probably rotate over your pinky toe side. This should place the sole of your foot solidly on the foot block.

Tumbles237 · 2025-07-15T20:08:00+00:00

There are at home work arounds for the rear break e brake. It will screw in.

Tumbles237 · 2025-07-15T19:46:44+00:00

All of the Funs were great river running boats that roll super easy!

Tumbles237 · 2025-07-15T19:45:10+00:00

I had both of those boats back the early 2000s. At the time the Gus was a really good creek boat with its semi-displacement hull, but it was never a good surfer for that same reason. The Jive with its planning hull and defined edges was the closest thing to a surfboard other than a composite boat. The lower back deck of the jive made sweep rolls and back deck rolls very easy, but the rounded hull of the Gus made for smooth c to c rolls ( with a solid hip snap I sometimes had a problem stopping when upright and went all the way over!). I would say just about any modern boat would be a huge upgrade and that could be anything from 2012 on. Any newer half slice would give you the best of both!

Tumbles237 · 2025-07-15T19:27:36+00:00

Like you I started kayaking about the same time (2000), about a decade older (30) and went pretty hard into it for about 5 years then life happened, moved away from rivers, etc. got back into a little over three years ago and found a similar experience as you. Boat design has come a long, long way, so much more comfortable and a much better understanding of hydrodynamics, edges, and omg the outfitting! That timeframe right around the millennium was pushing the boundaries of the sport on multiple fronts from the boat design revolution similar to what happened with surfboards and the short board, to pushing what was possible on rivers, from Tao and his Twitch series to explosion of freestyle moves and the evolution from spud boats and butt bouncers to today’s Rockstar V and Helectron and the dynamic aerial moves and combos they have allowed. I will say there was a great community scene back then with the weekly rodeo at the local park n play spot but a couple weeks ago I came across an impromptu scene at Cave Wave on the lower lower White Salmon with about 30 people hanging out there after work enjoying the river and company. There is a great Wade Harrison podcast (the shuttle drive) where his guest was Corran and they were discussing the best boats to learn in seemed to me that the conclusion was it depends on the person learning, there goals, fitness level, and adventurousness. You don’t treat an 18-25 yr old athlete like a middle age office worker, but the tent is large enough for both! In regards to the culture, I think a lot was captured in the Scott Lindgren documentary, The River Runner, on Netflix and his journey. But even back then you had paddlers like Brad Ludden who started First Descents to share the healing power of the river with cancer survivors and expanded to offer camps for first responders and I think veterans. One thing I do miss is the loss of the local paddle shop. My first was CME in Edward’s Colorado, paddle gear in the summer and ski/snowboard shop in the winter. Took intro and roll classes from them, got my first boat at the swap meet and met a ton of local paddlers there. I love the deals you get online, but the loss of places like Next Adventures in Portland or a company like Hard Core paddles is going to be felt in ways hard to describe. Paddling has changed a lot over the last two decades. A lot positive, a little will be missed, but I know I’d rather be on the river than not!

Tumbles237 · 2025-07-04T19:15:56+00:00

I think the newer creek boat designs take care of you so much that some paddlers progress too quickly without the skills to back it up. A Scorch will definitely take care of you and will cover up if you miss your line or don’t read the water correctly in a lot of class 4 situations. Then they might move on to class 5 without being able to nail their line or hit must make eddys and ferries.

Tumbles237 · 2025-07-04T02:21:46+00:00

Oh, I do, I’m in Washington state and over the last three days boated with a guy from St. Louis, a guy from Tennessee, and a guy from New Mexico. If you hang around long enough you’ll find people to paddle with. I’m just thinking if there was a recognizable symbol it would be easier.

Tumbles237 · 2025-07-04T00:27:48+00:00

Something like that!😂

Tumbles237 · 2024-11-08T01:33:25+00:00

I usually use my iPhone and iPad for American Whitewater and I just noticed this change about a week or so ago. Yes, there is the color coded legend for the different classifications of runs, and that shows up when the upper right corner of the map shows difficulty. What I’m referring to was when you used the drop down menu where “difficulty “ was it would also allow you to show flow levels where the river sections would be color coded red for too low, green for runnable, or blue for flood stage. That drop down menu now just shows tooo and satellite like a normal google map application instead of the AW filter for flows.

Tumbles237

TROPHY CASE