A mere few hours before I was to embark on a kayak adventure a shipping truck pulled up to Endless Adventure bearing shiny plastic gifts. Ten minutes later I was staring at the new Super Hero and Hero and a slick looking new Rock Star by Jackson Kayak.
Seeing as I was about to head to the West Coast of BC with my friend Carl for some creek boating I choose to bring the Hero along for a try. We met up with Ryan Bayes of Western C&K who hosted us to some awesome Whitewater in the area.
In all we paddled four creek runs in 3 days including Norrish Creek, Lynn Canyon including a 20+ footer entry, the Seymour Canyon, and Lost Creek. I was able to test the Hero in steep creeking, bigger volume creeking, technical drops and some chill class II/III. I have been paddling the older version Hero while kayak guiding in Ecuador and loved the design. The new Hero seemed to be even more responsive, a trait I enjoyed from the older model. I also noticed the aggressive edges and amazing initial stability of the Hero. The planning hull did tend to slide me off line if I wasn't paying attention but an easy draw stroke brought it back into play effortlessly. Surfing was a blast, literally, I was able to edge transfer, front surf, side surf, and spin. The newer model is a bit shorter too making play boating moves more attainable like wave wheels and even loops! I have spent the last three years learning these tricks with the Hero on bigger volume runs and the new kayak outperforms on all playful accounts. On the bigger volume creeks the Hero had the speed to charge holes and being the lowest volume kayak on the run I also noticed how the Hero subbed out going through holes and re emerged in an even manner. Boofing was awesome in the new Hero, being lightweight the kayak would fly off boofs effortlessly, landing was a little more or a challenge since a slight presentation of an edge on landing would put you in a unstable position. As far as my advanced creeking machine goes I will have to paddle the model a little more to get used to some of the new boat quirks and really enjoy the Hero as a tight and technical creeking weapon. The small stature and aggressive edges of the Hero open up some great possibilities for the expert creeker looking to make the most of their favourite run. You can zig-zag across the river and hit ALL the boofs you ever wanted.
9 of 10 pugs prefer the Hero!
I also demoed the Hero on some class II/III water too and this is where this kayak design flourishes! Floating into eddy lines and boils sideways, dropping into little holes off edge, manoeuvring around shallow rocks, I tried to get myself into trouble numerous times with no luck. The Hero is just plain stable and confidence inspiring in moderate water. I could not believe how forgiving the edges are and how generally user friendly the kayak is. Comfortable, lightweight, stable, surfing ability all the prefect ingredients for the class II/III+ kayaker. As I said about the 2007 Hero design if you are planning to have just one kayak and want to explore many types of whitewater the Hero is where it is at!
Hero Videos
Lynn Creeks Twin Falls
Jackson Kayak Hero Promo Video
Numerical Rating
Speed 6 out of 10
Stability 9 out of 10
Carving 8 out of 10
Surfing 7 out of 10
Comfort 10 out of 10
Playful/FUN 10 out of 10
OVERALL 8 out of 10
SPECS
Hero- $1,149 (Elite) – $999 (Super Linear)
Length: 88” (or 7’ 4”)- 223cm.
Width: 26″- 66cm
Height: 15.0” – 38 cm
Volume: 76.5 gallons- 289 litres
Cockpit: 35″ x 20.5″-89cm X 52cm
Weight: 39 pounds – 17.7 KGs
Target weight range: 115-190 pounds- 52KGs-86 KGs
Super Hero- $1,149 (Elite) – $999 (Super Linear)
Length = 93” (or 7’ 9”)-236cm
Width = 27″- 68cm
Height=16″- 40cm
Volume =90 gallons- 342 litres
Cockpit: 37″ x 21.5″– 94cm X 54.6cm
Weight: 42 pounds-19 KGs
Target weight range: 155-290 pounds- 70KGs- 130 KGs
Come on out to our Customer Appreciation FREE BBQ and kayak Demo at Rock Island, Trail on April 16th 1pm.
NEW Jackson Kayak Designs at Endless Adventure available now! Call or stop by our Crescent Valley BC location. You can also order your own custom colours or even Carbon in most JK kayaks with only a two week waiting list!
CONTACT:
Endless Adventure
1286 HWY 6N
Crescent Valley BC
V0G 1H0
877-386-8181
See you on the water!
Chris Ryman
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