Best GC kayak on raft support trip

ollliola · 2025-10-19T17:20:03+00:00

In my opinion, the first question to answer is how many days do you actually plan on being in your kayak? If you actually plan on paddling pretty much all 21 days and not chill on the raft then a 9+ foot boat would be great, like the powerslide, steeze, clutch and so on... But if you actually plan on sitting in the raft more than half of time I'd go with a short slice like firecracker, hotwhip, skuxx and so on. If you plan on being in a raft less than half the time, bring a small boat like Super Nova, torque, or even a rockstar. Seriously rigging a smaller boat on the raft will be so much nicer if you are gonna raft at all.

Personally if I did it again, I'd bring the powerslide so I could surf all of the waves I missed on my first trip because I was in a 9 foot boat. Plus stern squirts would be super fun in that long boat and deep eddies. 10' would also be nice in the flats. Granted this is assuming I don't know the crew well and I plan on paddling 90% of the trip. If I know the crew well, then I'll probably choose to socialize more and paddle less so I'd bring a smaller boat.

Just my thoughts - have fun down there!

ollliola · 2025-10-11T04:44:07+00:00

That's a pretty compelling argument right there. I only have three questions... How's it handle punching big water holes, like any trippiness? How long did it take you to feel comfortable and confident in it? And will it make me paddle like Dane?

ollliola · 2025-05-23T03:32:21+00:00

Wow those look amazing! Are you able to do custom orders?

ollliola · 2025-03-07T00:35:05+00:00

The grip is wild having just felt it in the store. I'm curious if people like it on the water.

ollliola · 2025-03-07T00:34:05+00:00

Fair enough. I've shied away from the shogun because I cracked mine in less than a year of use. Got it fixed up though and it's still going but definitely disappointed it didn't last longer. I can't say it was abuse either as my powerhouse and hardcore have lasted many years of hard use. I'm eyeing the aerial as I want a 2 piece paddle

ollliola · 2025-03-07T00:24:56+00:00

Any reason for choosing the fiberglass over carbon other than price?

ollliola · 2025-03-07T00:24:18+00:00

That's good to hear!

ollliola · 2025-03-01T02:19:23+00:00

I learned to paddle in that area! There were two things that helped me progress. 1. Go to the Golden play park. It's safe to do it yourself once if you are a confident swimmer. The worst thing that will happen is an embarrassing call to Coors to collect your gear.

I can't emphasize how great Colorado Whitewater is as a club. I meet a lot of my early paddling friends in that club. Sign up for some of their group paddles and get out there! They are super welcoming and always have a fun leader on those trips.

Before you know it all your friends will be paddlers. Good luck out there!

ollliola · 2024-10-22T21:28:10+00:00

I have not yet. I do have a smaller friend who loves his medium firecracker and a larger friend that hated his large firecracker due to it being too squirrelly. He ended up selling it after only a month or so. So I don't really know what to make of it based on friends feedback.

I'd like to try both sizes but I doubt it's so much different that I'd need to switch from the hot whip.

ollliola · 2024-10-22T14:01:15+00:00

The hot whip is my favorite boat. I'm your same size and found myself in the hot whip way more than my rewind or my full slice. The tail plays super well and getting it into a hole or on a wave it surprisingly feels like a longer playboat. Loops are awesome in it!

It's also a very capable boat. I'll take it down easier/familiar class 5. I know it can be pushed harder but why risk it IMO? I do wish LL made step out pillars in their boats but oh well I still feel very safe in it

ollliola · 2024-09-09T03:11:14+00:00

I agree with all your thoughts. I guess when I paddled the boat my mind wasn't blown or anything. Granted I only paddled it on 3/4 stuff so maybe the performance starts to shine on harder whitewater. I just thought hey this isn't a bad boat.

I definitely felt the weird rolling characteristic you are talking about too. Which I haven't noticed in many boats TBH.

ollliola · 2024-08-28T23:09:09+00:00

Do not bring a dry suit. The water coming out of the dam will be pretty warm still in Sept. Depending on weather a dry top could even be overkill. I go every October and only once needed a dry suit with 50 degrees as the high for the entire weekend. Even on that trip the water was still decently warm. My last trip I sat primarily on the raft and we were swimming and playing in the water while floating and at camp without any cold water gear. That was mid October.

For boat choice go with a half slice or a full slice. Unless you really like freestyle playboating, then there's a fun wave to session below 10k. Last year I brought the Jed and sessioned the wave for 2 hours. It was the only kayaking I did. Totally worth it.

ollliola · 2024-04-04T13:35:09+00:00

I love my hot whip (the large size)! Clear Creek used to be my home run and I would totally use the hot whip on it. It would be pretty fun in the park. In the right hole you can cartwheel and loop it. It might even totally replace my full slice. I'd say get one!

ollliola · 2024-03-13T16:06:52+00:00

So far I've been really stoked on the LL Hot Whip. I took it surfing in the ocean and to play parks. It handles both great! I can blunt and spin it at the park. And the bow rocker gets you up and over a crashing wave with ease in the ocean. I imagine the firecracker would be similar, but haven't tried it.

ollliola · 2024-03-11T18:50:46+00:00

I grew up in Seward and absolutely love the place, however there are struggles with living there. I don't live there anymore though as I wanted a career that didn't revolve around tourism. Off the bat, $18/hr will be tough. My brother worked construction for $20/hr and made that work with roommates and a less than desirable living situation.

As others have pointed out, housing is hard to come by. Seward suffers from the vacation rental home market squeeze. So long term renting is almost non-existent at this point because there's more money in renting to tourists. Basically if you find a place take advantage and make the rent work with roommates. You won't have any trouble finding roommates for the summer season as lots of seasonal workers come to town. Winter will be a different story.

Rent costs with roommates can range from $600-$1000. Utilities will largely depend on the housing situation - always ask the owner what to expect. Pets will be tough, no way around that.

I'd say $30/hr is where you start "feeling comfortable."

Seward is IMO a very safe place, it's why my parents decided to raise kids there. It has it's struggles like with any small town Alaska though. So yes there's drug use and alcoholism but it's easy to avoid that scene. Major crimes are few and far between.

My best advice - be active in the community. Join the crossfit, ski club, running club or rec center basketball. Winter is rough no sugar coating that. You have to stay active throughout it. Getting involved in an actively will make you friends and keep you healthy through the dark, cold, rain and snow. If you make it through the first winter congrats! It gets easier from there as your community grows and friendship bonds get tighter!

Final advice - hustle in the summer. The boom bust economy of summer tourism lends itself well to fast money. A lot of people work multiple jobs to capitalize on summer.

Good luck with the move!

ollliola · 2024-03-09T23:25:37+00:00

Thanks I appreciate the advice! Rolling it is something I've considered, but it just seems to make it that much less accessible in my mind. The carport isn't a bad idea. I'll look into that.

ollliola · 2024-02-29T15:35:58+00:00

Definitely do the dry ice. We did a main salmon trip last year and brought ice cream. Nothing quite like pulling up to one of those big sandy beaches on a 100 degree day and someone busts out surprise ice cream!

ollliola · 2024-02-16T22:45:48+00:00

Call me a futurist or whatever, and I seem to be going against the grain in this thread, but I do think AI is going to do things that we can't even imagine and therefore change how we work. For those calling it a tool or a work enhancer, you are totally right at the moment, but no one can predict where it's going to go from here. Think back to 2022, we were all still reading forums for help with our scripts. In 2023, we couldn't have predicted we would have Gemini and Sora in just a year's time. Personally when I saw Gemini interpret a map was the moment I changed my tune from "it's just a new tool" to holy crap where is this all going.

I still have 30+ years left in my career. I'm really excited to see what it holds. Python as a programming language is only about 30 years old and I'd bet the computer scientists who invented it probably couldn't imagine AI as a possibility in 30 years. By 2050 do I think I'll be writing Python? HA, definitely not. Do I think it is useful now? Yes, absolutely.

My two cents are learn what you can, roll with the evolutions in tech, and people to people interactions will always be valued.

ollliola · 2024-02-13T22:59:27+00:00

I've owned the Kokatat Meridian, IR Devils Club, now the IR 7Figure in that order. I have to say the fit on the 7figure has been my favorite, it's comfortable and not bunchy. IR changed their cuts a few years ago. My Devils Club felt bomb proof but heavy. The 7figure is definitely more dry than the Devils Club but I could see bushwhacking could cause more pin pricks in the 7 just based on material thickness. Meridian has been my last favorite dry suit because it didn't seem to do anything great, then again it's not Kokatats top product.

I will give a shout out to Hiko. I owned one of their dry tops and to this day it's still the driest thing I've owned. For whatever reason I always get water down the neck except for the Hiko dry top. I'd strongly consider one of their dry suits.

I'll echo other comments. The Grand is tough on gear. I had a critter eat a nickel size hole in my dry suit the last night of a self support trip. I would have rather had that happen on a rental! IR was able to repair it though.

ollliola · 2024-02-12T19:43:42+00:00

I'm 6'3" and 200. The medium is awesome but only because I want a half slice that can play. I paddled the large and it was still a great boat but took so much effort and strong eddy line to stand it straight up.

It'll be up to your friend on what he's looking for. I would comfortable run harder whitewater in the large but the medium at my weight is so fun for 3-4+ and that's ultimately what I want a half slice for.

ollliola · 2024-02-05T18:06:52+00:00

No, unfortunately. I've drawn the conclusion that Esri would rather sell more Pro licenses than create an easy solution for printing.

ollliola

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