I just got back from an epic trip to Madagascar.  The purpose of our trip was to run two new rivers over in Mada while filming for a documentary based around First Descents Cancer Camps.  I flew over with paddlers Brad Ludden, Rush Sturges and Alex Nicks.  Arden and Trask were there to film as was Dan Armstrong shooting photos.

The crew was set, all we needed were some epic rivers. The first river we did was a steep first descent on the east coast.  It was a 60km river packed with steep slides and big drops.  We were fortunate to have some local villagers help us hike our fully loaded boats the 6km from the end of the road to the put in.  After a full day of paddling through rice fields and spider webs we made it to the steep part of the river.

Repel over an unrunnable 90 footer!

This was pretty standard for the style of river.  The next two days had a bunch of clean slides with a few huge unrunnable drops thrown in the mix.  After we finished the 3 day run we waited 36 hours at a bus station for a ride back to Antananarivo to get ready for our next big river..

The next river was an unknown 250km section of the Betsiboka river.  The Betsiboka took us 12 full days of Croc. infested waters with some huge big volume slides and rapids.

Big tomato soup rapids

croc caught by a local village.  I think they were more scared of them than us

After 12 long days of paddling, camping in the rain, and drinking out of the brown side streams we made it to the take out at one of the most amazing falls I have ever seen. Stay tuned for the Documentary to be released this spring!

Cold.  Freakin’ cold.  Still gettin’ after it out here in the infamous Robe Canyon.  Maintenance boating with a little suffering sprinkled in.   The run was at a med. flow, which has a pushy creek feel.  Some good holes to avoid with quality boofs to keep your attention and perfect for the L Karnali.   Nature put on quite a show with the dark rock canyon and a fresh coat of super-white snow.  Incredibly scenic.

L Karnali about to drop in.

Aww…take out.  Good day

Running Mike Tyson’s on the Raven Fork in the Karnali L. Photo by Clayton Gaar.

After a little over a month in the Karnali, I decided to put together a few thoughts about the boat. First off, I picked mine up from the warehouse in Asheville the day before the Green Race, raced it, and have been hopping in and out of it and my Burn to compare since then.

Speed
Fast…but maybe not quite as fast as the Burn in certain situations. The Karnali L has plenty of speed to make tough moves but in my opinion, this boat is ideal for paddlers who prefer to float most of the time and take a few strokes when they need to. Nothing wrong with that style of paddling, but with my background racing on the USA Canoe/Kayak Team, I have developed my style of paddling to one that drives the boat rather than float into things. I’ve paddled the Burn and Everest for a while and because of their edges, these boats lend themselves to that style. With that said, I’m liking the Karnali a lot for cruising in a chill, post-Green Race fashion. This boat’s forgiving nature really makes kayaking fun.

Rocker
At first, the Karnali seems to have a funny feeling bow sitting in the water. From the cockpit, it looks like the bow is almost pointing into the water but it certainly doesn’t paddle like that. The Karnali’s bow profile allows it to pierce and carry speed better through certain features like holes with a big pile rather than over them. The Karnali still has plenty of rocker to get the bow up and over things easily, though. In my race run, I remember skipping when I hit the pool below one of the low-angle slides after Gorilla.

Dropping into Anaconda on the Raven Fork. Photo by Mac McGee.

Forgiveness
Ah, the Pyranha edge. First on the H:2, tweaked on the H:3, and refined on the Burn. Compared to these boats, the Karnali’s edge has undergone an evolution and has emerged fairly tame. It’s an excellent balance of forgiveness and performance for a creeker, in my opinion. The edge is there enough that you feel it and can use it easily but not so much that you have to take time to learn the boat’s edge and adapt. Edge transitions are also very easy despite the boat’s outstanding stability.

Comfort
At 5′9″, 160lbs, I’m way down on the light end of the weight range for the Karnali L. At my height, this boat is very comfortable though. I had to add significant outfitting to the boat to keep from flopping around on the inside of this beast. It’s big but it didn’t feel huge out of the box. Now that it fits me, it’s like paddling a more forgiving Burn L.

On the water, I was impressed with how the boat was so easy to get in and paddle. The first time I paddled the boat was in this year’s Green Race where I ended up sixth in the short boat class. In the Burn, you learn to be aware of your edges in boils, eddylines, and cross currents. The first thing I noticed about the Karnali was how forgiving it was when it reacted with these same features. It just planed up and cruised through without any sharp feeling edges but with enough crisp feeling for control. Next I noticed the boat is very easy to turn! It seems to sit on the surface of the water and just spin so easily when you need it to but getting the boat up to speed and tracking is no big deal. I have to wonder how these characteristics were brought together so well. It rides high in rapids and is very rock-friendly for a chined, flat-bottomed creeker. Boofing is as easy as in the Burn and resurfacing is similar.

Wayne Dickert in the Karnali M on the Cullasaja. Photo by Casey Jones

The Karnali is great! If you’re looking for a forgiving creeker or river-runner with a flat hull and a touch of performance, give this boat a shot. It should be a good fit for everyone from new paddlers to class V creekers. I look forward to paddling this boat more and continuing to put it through its paces.

Until next time, I’ll leave you with some shots to compare the size of the Karnali M to the Burn M.

Check out my good friend Michael Shield’s blog update from an awesome week in southern Chile.
Miguel’s Blog

Living in Bellingham, WA definitely has it’s perks.  One of those is the close proximity to some world class boating.  Just 20 minutes North is the BC border and 20 minutes East is the Nooksack River drainage, just to name a few.  I had just received my shipment of a new L Karnali and an Everest in Seattle, when I picked up Paul Gamache and we both headed back to BC to find some goods.

We definitely found more than what we were looking for.  We stumbled across the MASSIVE Cascade Falls.  After a long day of sussing out that beast, Paul gave ‘er and stuck it the next morning.  Turned out it was 108.2 feet tall….freakin’ sweet!  Check out HUCKINHUGE.com for some screen shots of the descent.  Footage will be featured in the spring 09 release…. THE RISEN SUN.

Well after all that went down, I figured I’d give the new Karnali a test on Clearwater Creek, WA.  A fun steep thing just outside of town.  Dropping 450 feet with no vertical drop bigger than 4 feet, it spells for a great time of tight technical creeking.  I found the Karnali to be my new favorite boat.  The thing was built for this situation and made everything a class easier.  Stoked!

Check out the stern cam i built onto a L Burn.  This is Clearwater’s first coupla drops, and gives you a feel of what I’m talking about (were the Karnali test went down).   CLICK HERE FOR THE VIDEO and enjoy!

Rory just can’t handle all the excitement at the MOP premiere

 You’ve spent almost a year staring at a computer screen, editing footage and trying to sweet talk artists into giving you rights to their music for free… now what?  Well MOP producer Max Bilbow decided that the next logical step was to convince 140 boater from about the country to come to Leeds, dress up in formal attire, play a game of bingo (!?) and then watch the world premiere of his new DVD, Means of Production… And what an awesome night it was!

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Demshitz made some helmet cam videos of two classics in Chile. The Rio Puesco and Upper Palguin! Check dem out. 
Upper Palguin

Rio Puesco