Samantha Brunner Reviews the Little Hero

By Samantha Brunner

Don’t let the name fool you, the Little Hero is a very mighty boat!! Now, I know what you’re thinking: I’m supposed to be neutral. But after paddling the Little Hero, I have only good things to say about it. I have been using it for a few months now and absolutely love it! I came from the Punk Rocker and started using the Hero last summer in Colorado and fell in love with it the moment I got it in moving water. The Hero is a great boat but at 125lbs. it is a little big on me, it just takes a few extra shims. The Little Hero, although it looks small for someone that is 5’7", fits perfectly and paddles just as well.

What do I love about the Little Hero and the Hero series?? Besides the fact that it is perfect for smaller paddlers, especially the ones that don’t have a lot of upper body strength, it is the perfect boat for any paddler of any skill level. Whether you are learning to river run or running waterfalls and punching big holes, the Little Hero can do it all. It’s easy to roll, easy to surf (or surf out of) holes, and it boofs like a dream.

The hull of the Little Hero (and all boats in the Hero series of course) makes it easy to ferry across the river, catch eddies, and- like I said before- surf out of holes if you happen to get caught in them. It is as if you can look at the line
you want to run and the Hero will take you there.

With all of these wow factors, It’s not hard to see how the Hero series is good for paddlers of all skill levels. It will help the beginner learn how to run a river and build confidence, it will help a beginning creeker learn how to use holes to their advantage and run waterfalls, and- of course- it will help that long time creeker navigate his/her way down the river effortlessly.

A good example of my experience with the Little Hero would be when I took it on the Tellico in March. It was at a medium flow and it was my first weekend in my new kayak. There is a ferry at the put in that was effortlessly made with just one stroke. Down stream where the ledges lay the Little Hero was easy to maneuver through the necessary moves and boof easily over the ledges. I even free-wheeled it over the third ledge without a problem. Then, for some ferrying and eddying practice, I stopped at the campsite rapid a little ways above Baby Falls. I was able to ferry across the rapid the whole way down and eddy 11 times. And of course at Baby Falls, it boofed naturally. Of course, to be fair, I wish I could point out some of the less desirable aspects of the Little Hero but the truth is that I’m still looking for them.