Milton Mann writes in about his new yellow granite Rocker

May 27, 2005

Hey EJ,

Finally got the Rocker out for a test ride. The Green
River, NC was running 200% yesterday, so I slipped out with a couple of
friends for a run down the upper section. Great intermediate run and one
I enjoy every chance I get, especially at 200%. It has two Class III drops
and a bunch of nice Class II bogie water in between and at least one stiff
hole.

The Rocker exceeded my expectations. Talk about no
muss or fuss. Truly killing flies with a sledge hammer on this run. Other
than a couple of practice rolls, I was never close to getting my hair
wet. I floated it through swirling currents sideways to see if anything
would catch – total composure. I couldn’t find a mean bone in it’s body
and I tried. I blew one boof that was about a 4 or 5 foot drop, to see
what it’d do – it didn’t even get water up on the top deck.

It would track through currents and small holes with
no problem or really much notice. It caught eddies about as well as my
Fun. But the total surprise was how great it ferried up stream – super.
At the end of the run is a nice size, friendly play wave. I actually got
out there several time and surfed it, which was a hoot.

To cap the day off, I had a couple of new kayakers
come up from Georgia to purchase some used gear. I took them to roll practice
and used the Rocker to teach both of them to roll. It is now my "go
to" boat for teaching people to roll. One was a 5’5" girl at
about 115 lbs and the other was a 6′ guy at around 165ish. The boat adjusted
to them in seconds and with a few instructions, we had both of them hitting
rolls within one or two tries. Nice. I’d love to claim all the credit
based on good teaching, LOL, but the Rocker is simply that easy to roll.

I’m ready to get it on something more difficult. I’ll
keep you posted. Thanks again for all your help.

Milton