Boyd Ruppelt’s thoughts on the new Flow

Coming from the Gnarvana medium, at 160-165 lbs, I’ve found myself getting into the Gnarvana Small on southeastern US dam release runs to spice things up. I love paddling the Antix 2.0 as a playful river runner and it can handle anything I throw at it, but sometimes I want the zippy, skippy feel of a Gnarvana and just don’t want to spend the day getting vertical.

The problem with squeezing into a small Gnarvana though, the parting line sits low when it’s loaded down that much so it’s easy to catch an edge. I love the Gnarvana medium, but it seems to need a certain amount of action for it to “liven up” enough to feel fun for me. The Flow provides a perfect, fun middle ground for me as an expert, but also provides a great first boat for paddling schools, beginners, and intermediates who don’t need the volume or want the length of the Gnarvana. The Gnarvana will still be my go-to creeker for bigger, harder things and for pushing myself in a kayak, but the Flow is going to be my new favorite river running creeker to liven up my local dam releases and low volume creeks.