I _____ in my Antix.

I _______ in my Antix. I found a couple words to fill in that blank during my PFD of the Suicide and Upper Two sections of the Little River Canyon in Alabama. I brought the Antix for the weekend expecting to make low flows more fun. Then Mother Nature blessed us with rain and the canyon got lots of water (1,000 ish CFS)! I instantly regretted not bringing my “I’m scared” boat of choice, M Zen, but it was too late to turn back. The canyon had water and it was time for a PFD in my little Antix!

I BOOF BIG in my Antix. Cable falls, the boof at humpty dumpty, and countless other places were the perfect test of the boat’s boof-ability. Every drop we came to I was able to fly off of and keep my momentum going through the rapids! A little edge on the water boofs led to lots of airtime, and a little speed let me skip right off drops and into eddies.

I GET PITTED in my Antix. First off let’s admit that Pinball is an intimidating rapid. Ferry across the whole river (to dodge deadly sieves), wiggle your way down mank, and then drive as hard left as you can to dodge the hole. After we ferried and caught an eddy, Matthew hopped out and showed me where to go. I got to watch Kyle, Tres, and Hunter all style their lines, which made me feel more confident about the line. I made it through the manky slot much better than anticipated. Then it was time to drive hard left! I had so much speed driving to the left of the hole that I swear I disappeared under water when I hit the seam! Thankfully I had gotten far enough left that it spit me right through and I rolled up (after a few tries…) at the bottom. This rapid was awesome! It’s definitely my favorite on the suicide section.

I PLAY in my Antix. I’m proud to say there were lots of good lines worth celebrating that day. What better way to celebrate than to squirt the flow at the bottom? As a 5’5” and 150lbs paddler I am able to squirt the medium. Not yet consistently since I’m still new to slicing, but there are lucky moments when everything clicks and it goes vertical! Suicide and Upper Two both have tons of good eddy lines with which to play! I squirted one eddy line right above a spot where Matthew was trying to tell me where to go and almost missed the beta because I was having too much fun… Whoops!

I HAVE SO MUCH FUN in my Antix. Was I scared to take a slicey boat down a class five run for my PFD? Of course! Would I go back and change the circumstances? No way! After a solid day in Little River Canyon, I can now confidently say that I would feel extremely comfortable creeking in the Antix. To me it feels like paddling a smaller, more maneuverable Zen that lets you freestyle the whole run.

I’m certainly not the first to say it, but I love this boat.