August 6, 2004
Hi EJ,
First time I met you was at the MooseFest a few years back,
and I'm glad to see you are happy at doing what you do best....bringing
more people into this sport. Even while raising a family.
I've come from a "River Running"
school of thought, and not much into "Rodeo Play"
. My main goal was to be able to learn Hole Basics Strategy...........just
so once I get into a hole, I can come out without fear of
swimming.
I'm using an RPM Max as my Big Water Boat,
and light Creeking with it also. My progression of River Runner
Play boats have a long list, but have done me some interesting
trips. I went from a Super EZ, to an S8 - 235, to now a Super
Fun........and this is my story.......
When a few of my friends ordered your
boats without demo-ing, I thought they were following a dream,
and I wished the best for them. It was hard to buy a boat
straight from a catalog, without even sitting in one. Well
after a longer waiting time then expected, they drove the
5 hour drive to Mount Zoar's and picked up their new boats.
Even when they came back, I was still cautious about the newness
of it all, and was even a little skeptical .......a new company,
older, but different material, new designs, but yet still
believed in your dream........to make a kayak that everyone
will be able to use....and have fun in !
So here I am, paddling on the Salmon River,
once in a while, I'll take a few photos, during their PaddleFest
Weekend. I see a few more Jackson Kayaks on the water, so
I took some pics of them as well. Then I start to ask more
questions.......questions to paddlers I know......and their
previous paddling experience level, and watch as they are
beginning to live it up in their "Funs".
So, now I'm getting really curious as
to the similarities of the EZ series to the Fun series. And
two others in our group started thinking on the same lines..............what
if ? could we ? too soon ? I know ! Let's DEMO !
And then ....we got excited ! A week later,
after calling around to see which outfitter had the boat sizes
we need to take care of us. We made an appointment to demo
with Bay Creek (Rochester, NY), on a small creek nearby thanks
to Steve (the owner) and to Adam (FreakShow) for taking us
for a run. We already planned to buy a Super Fun, and two
4Funs, which we knew he had in stock. Then I asked another
friend to join us and maybe demo a Fun. His intent was to
check out your "Happy Feet" and maybe install them
in his boat (a Booster 55). I told him he might as well demo
them with us, and get a feel for it. Well, when we came back,
we had grins all over the place. More so, when we found out
they also take trade-ins too. We left there with FOUR new
Jacksons strapped to the top of my Aztec, and still shaking
our heads.....this has never been done before....plus.....we
sold our three kayaks that week, so it was a total of 8 kayak
deals in one week ! It was worse than Christmas morning....we
parked for dinner, and the whole time we were eating, we kept
looking out the window and started grinning again, saying
, "Wait til the gang sees this ! They're gonna think
we lost it !". And the hardest thing we had to do was
keep it a secret until next weekend, when we pull up to the
river, and announce we had a new nickname.........we are the
"Fungi's" from the BCCKC and let's get paddling
!
Anyways.......I just wanted to bring you
up to speed, now that we gave your kayaks a good test on a
Class II-III river.
And this is my review on the Jackson Super Fun...........................
My stats........... 5'6" tall.......245 lbs............size
10 feet..........28 " inseam
Boats I've owned.....Grind, Super EZ, S8 - 235, H3 255, Big
EZ, Big Gun, ARC, And still....an RPM Max.
I feel I'm a solid Class III boater, others
feel I'm more Class IV, (but they don't know what's going
through my mind when I run the tougher stuff).......I've paddled
5-6 years, almost every weekend...also take alot of pics,
and post them on Webshots...it's free for everyone interested,
and saves me email time.
The first thing I noticed when I got on the water was how
high I was sitting out of the water ! Even at my weight, the
water line was surprising ! The comfort was amazing ! I moved
the seat to the front position, took off the red extenders
for the back band, inverted the hip pads ( really nice velcro
to make unlimited adjustments). And the feet.........tons
of room I had to add foam in front of the air chambers for
my short legs, so I know the taller paddlers should fit nice
too ! I put a sponge on the left side of the hip pad wall,
and a smaller water bottle on the right side, and they stayed
there. I was able to put my pelican box standing upright,
against the stern foam pillar wall, blow up the air bags and
all was secure !
Now the test...........
As I was paddling downstream, not once did I feel out of control,
very stable. My stern never caught an edge, and I had no unintentional
stern squirts ! Amazing ! We take our time running rivers,
surf all we can, eddy hop, make tougher moves on easier water,
play follow the leader, and was I impressed ! The speed of
such a short boat (way faster than the Super EZ, even the
S8 ! ) Not only was I catching waves I usually miss, but,
I was staying on them ! I even caught a few on the fly, that
seemed so easy, and under total control. It's always nice
when you decide to get off a wave, instead of the wave spitting
you out. Some of the surfing I was doing, they were getting
ready to blow a whistle , I'd be on so long. What a feeling
! I feel like you combined the speed of the S8, the spinning
of the EZ, the ease of rolling of the RPM, and the comfort
of a recliner....all in one boat. I suppose by now, you might
get tired of reading the same reviews. That's why I started
from the beginning as to when we became interested down to
when we gave it a good test, to now that we are the proud
owners of your design.......The Fun Series !
In our club (the BCCKC) we now have ..........1 Super Fun........4
- 4Funs..........3 - Funs Next week....who knows ? a few more
! I sure would like a nice decal to put on the back of my
car, and I'm sure I'll be getting a hat (they were out of
them at the time) It's a 1.5 hour drive to Bay Creek, so we'd
love to go more often, definitely worth the trip. Thanks to
all that put these silly grins on our faces.....matter of
fact....I'm grinning right now !
***Stevie"G"***aka***Phantomboater***
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Phil's Fun
Kevins 4Fun
Jon's 4Fun
My Super Fun
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