LRC with the new Hero!

Photos

By Stephen Wright

With perfect timing, the first 2 new Heroes were built and ready to rock the day of the first big rain of the year! Little River Canyon was our destination on Saturday, which proved to be the perfect testing ground to play with our new toys and put them through their paces. Clay, EJ, Nick, Billy, Ruth, Dane, Jonathan & Mike Shales, and some hobbit jerk headed down for a long day trip with great water levels. This was also the maiden voyage of the sweet Dodge/Mercedes Sprinter van that Jessica bought last week–this thing is a BEAST! At one point, we had 7 people, 7 kayaks, gear, and 3 dogs in it to run shuttle 🙂

The run started off with a bang as we watched tons of people run Little River Falls, then ponied-up to run it ourselves. The left line at the falls is a 10 foot boof onto a rock shelf, then a 20 drop into a deep pool. Clay and EJ had the 2 Heroes, while the rest of us were in our Punks and Rockerses. EJ ran a perfect line, while Clay decided to test the piton-absorbing bulkhead with what a tremendous vertical hit, which took him all the way onto his head on the shelf, and an inverted run of the bottom 20 feet. I was very relieved when he rolled up at the bottom and gave a fist pump, even with a broken finger. The bow shape held-up great without a dent, and Clay’s ankles were undoubtedly saved by the flex in our uni-shock bulkhead.

I ran the falls last in my punk rocker so that I could photograph everyone else. I went a little too vert on the first drop and pitoned, but rode it out to a good plug at the bottom. Midway down, I tried to get tucked-up and only managed to get mostly forward, which resulted in being blown hard to the back deck on re-entry–ouch! Dane also pitoned the first 10 feet, Nick boofed the crap out of both drops, and EJ and Billy ran the cleanest lines of the group.

Anyway, enjoy the photos! We all swapped-out into the new Hero throughout the day, and I ended up paddling it a good bit–it’s fun! The Hero handles peel-outs, ferries, and generally drives like a playboat, but the deck volume and rocker keeps it going like a creek boat if I ever subbed it out. It felt a good bit more stable than either the Rocker or the Fun, with a stern edge that refused to flip me over even when leaning upstream on peel outs. Over-all it’s fun to paddle, and seems to handle bigger water with ease. I haven’t paddled it enough to really give it a good review yet, but so far it’s fun and I can’t wait to loop the crap out of it on Brave Wave later this week!!!

Live from Rock Island,
Stephen Wright