Small Gnarvana On-River Review

I’ve been in the small Jackson Kayak Gnarvana just a few times and wanted to take it out on the “high water” release day on the Tallulah to start to get a better feel for it.

Here are my quick impressions:

• Everyone has been saying how high and dry the bow is. They aren’t lying.
• Best way to describe the boat: It likes to skate across the river
• With the seat in the center position, I can boof this almost as easily as the small antix 2.0
• It is the best carrying boat – very well balanced on my shoulder
• Holes – What holes? This boat acts like this isn’t even a feature out there
• Quick in a rapid
• Feels like a true small creek boat!!!

Things I want more seat time to figure out:

• Ferry – Getting it up to speed and across where I want it to go
• Surfing – I’m very used to my small antix and this surfs differently
• Seat position – I want more time to mess with the seat position 1 forward of center and dead center

Unfortunately, it is going to be a while before I can get more seat time to write a full review as I am about to head into hip labrum surgery but I am excited to fully understand how this boat handles.