First days in my new Karma by stephenwright | Nov 6, 2012 | Whitewater | 8 comments My brand new medium Karma came to me all the way across the country early last week in Marty’s trailer. I’ve been excited to play with this new toy ever since I paddled the prototype in Montana, and shot the product photos a few weeks ago. So I went on a 4-day colorado paddle mission: Thursday Gore Canyon, Friday Barrel Springs & Shoshone, Saturday Barrel & Shoshone, and Sunday 2 complete runs of Gore Canyon. This wasn’t big waterfalls and it wasn’t the Green Race, BUT it was a lot of great whitewater and a fantastic opportunity to play with this new boat! So what’s it like? At 145 lbs, 5’4″, I thought that this newer, larger, longer medium creek boat would be way too big, but the fit is great and it maneuvers like a much smaller boat. I’m sitting on 2 foam pads with the seat 1 notch back from the middle. The Karma is fast, floaty, and fun! It seems to just float over strong cross-currents and boils without being pushed around at all. Love it! Boofs are big, dynamic, and the bow is easy to keep up on the surface. It turns MUCH easier than I expected–a good bit easier to spin/correct angles than a Villain or Zen. If you keep it flat, it’ll plane-out on landings and over holes with more speed/glide than I’ve ever felt before. It’s really forgiving–I haven’t even needed a critical brace yet, but rolls are maybe our easiest ever–TONS of 2ndary stability to help with roll finishes. So what’s not to love? Why buy another JK rr/creek boat over the Karma? If you want ultimate ease of turning and short length, the Hero series is just FUN (though the Medium Karma–at more than a foot longer than my Hero–seems to turn ALMOST as easily). If you want a boat that carves the hardest, fastest, and most dynamic eddy-turns with a little less volume/weight of a creek boat, the Zen is maybe a better choice. Like all my JK creekboats, I seem to like the way this one paddles best with the seat pretty far back. So after 4 days in a row in a lot of class IV/IV+, I LOVE the Karma! The Medium and Large are available for demo/purchase now, and the mold for the Small size is currently being made right now. Enjoy the photos, shot by Ken Hoeve! Live from Golden, CO! Stephen Wright [nggallery id=463 blog=1] 8 Comments Eric Jackson on November 6, 2012 at 5:15 pm Oh yea! I can’t believe we are just getting the Karma now!! So much fun!! EJ Reply Butler Cox on November 7, 2012 at 1:06 am So, how’d the Karma be for a noob boat? Reply Stephen Wright on November 7, 2012 at 5:35 am Butler, I think that the Karma would be a great beginner/intermediate river runner/creek boat. It’s very easy to roll, very forgiving, stable, and easy to control 🙂 Stephen Reply Stephen on November 7, 2012 at 8:35 am At 220, I had thought about the Zen 75 for downriver and ocean surfing, but then saw some Jackson staff advising people of my weight to go to a different boat. I don’t really need a creek boat, but want something that is fast. Somehow, the Karma L seems like too much boat for easy downriver and light ocean surfing. Any comments, suggestion? Reply Butler Cox on November 7, 2012 at 4:19 pm Thanks, Stephen. Will give it a go. Reply Henning on November 9, 2012 at 2:28 pm Apart from the fact that my Villain L just disintegrated on a Class III river (two cracks – not cuts – in different parts of the hull, just as if it was brittle!), it was designwise perhaps the best boat I have had in twenty years of whitewater kayaking. Does the Karma in your view also have the ability to provide you with the confidence to tackle the big stuff? Considering this huge disappointment with the Villain, is there more to expect from the material??? Reply Emily Jackson on November 9, 2012 at 5:54 pm Have you looked into a warranty? When did you purchase your boat… From the sounds of it it could have been over cooked, which causes it to feel brittle… Newer material in 2012 and 13 so we are very excited about that but the primary issue you are dealing with by the sounds of it is the fact that your boat wasn’t cooked right, otherwise it would have not done that… Fill out the warranty form on our site (i believe its under 4 owners on the top) then call ian stewart at 931 738 2800 Cheers Emily Reply Stephen Wright on November 9, 2012 at 9:14 pm Henning, We’ll cover boats like that with our warranty fo shizzle. Sorry you had a bad Villain. We’re using a new plastic for 2013–we started using it in some models in 2012. It’s a higher-end superlinear than we’ve ever had before and we’ve had great results with our test boats over the past 15 months of our playing with them. But a poorly cooked boat (most likely like the boat you described above) can do what you mentioned. That’s why we cover our boats with a great warranty–our QC is tighter than it’s ever been, and we’re using better materials. I feel totally confident in the design and build of my Karma to take it on the biggest stuff I’d ever want to run…..I’ll have it in the SE, CO, and Cali this year 🙂 Stephen Reply Submit a Comment Cancel replyYour email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *Comment * Name * Email * Website Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Δ
Eric Jackson on November 6, 2012 at 5:15 pm Oh yea! I can’t believe we are just getting the Karma now!! So much fun!! EJ Reply
Stephen Wright on November 7, 2012 at 5:35 am Butler, I think that the Karma would be a great beginner/intermediate river runner/creek boat. It’s very easy to roll, very forgiving, stable, and easy to control 🙂 Stephen Reply
Stephen on November 7, 2012 at 8:35 am At 220, I had thought about the Zen 75 for downriver and ocean surfing, but then saw some Jackson staff advising people of my weight to go to a different boat. I don’t really need a creek boat, but want something that is fast. Somehow, the Karma L seems like too much boat for easy downriver and light ocean surfing. Any comments, suggestion? Reply
Henning on November 9, 2012 at 2:28 pm Apart from the fact that my Villain L just disintegrated on a Class III river (two cracks – not cuts – in different parts of the hull, just as if it was brittle!), it was designwise perhaps the best boat I have had in twenty years of whitewater kayaking. Does the Karma in your view also have the ability to provide you with the confidence to tackle the big stuff? Considering this huge disappointment with the Villain, is there more to expect from the material??? Reply
Emily Jackson on November 9, 2012 at 5:54 pm Have you looked into a warranty? When did you purchase your boat… From the sounds of it it could have been over cooked, which causes it to feel brittle… Newer material in 2012 and 13 so we are very excited about that but the primary issue you are dealing with by the sounds of it is the fact that your boat wasn’t cooked right, otherwise it would have not done that… Fill out the warranty form on our site (i believe its under 4 owners on the top) then call ian stewart at 931 738 2800 Cheers Emily Reply
Stephen Wright on November 9, 2012 at 9:14 pm Henning, We’ll cover boats like that with our warranty fo shizzle. Sorry you had a bad Villain. We’re using a new plastic for 2013–we started using it in some models in 2012. It’s a higher-end superlinear than we’ve ever had before and we’ve had great results with our test boats over the past 15 months of our playing with them. But a poorly cooked boat (most likely like the boat you described above) can do what you mentioned. That’s why we cover our boats with a great warranty–our QC is tighter than it’s ever been, and we’re using better materials. I feel totally confident in the design and build of my Karma to take it on the biggest stuff I’d ever want to run…..I’ll have it in the SE, CO, and Cali this year 🙂 Stephen Reply
