Jackson Kayak has taken the success of the recent Gnarvana and built it into a smaller, more nimble river runner built for your favorite runs called the Flow.
Meet The Jackson Flow
When the Gnarvana was released last year, it represented everything we’ve been seeing in the progression of whitewater kayaks built for heavy Class-V. A profile elongated in the nine-foot range, with hefty volume, tons of rocker, and a hull shaped to skip out of drops. But the Gnarvana is also a lot of boat—overkill perhaps for enjoying our local runs. Enter the Flow, a boat Jackson says provides paddlers all the benefits of a modern river-running creek boat while offering a dynamic boat-handling experience.
A Sporty-Looking Hull
What Jackson did for the Flow was keep much of what they found success with in the Gnarvana. That includes a planing hull with long-running, dropped edges. As well as a lot of rocker at the bow and stern for easy boofs, maneuvering, and staying high on the water. But in creating a boat for paddlers looking to have fun on their local runs, Jackson obviously changed some of their approach with the Flow.
The Flow dials back the length, with the medium coming in at eight feet, five inches. Less boat means less to swing around on the water. With the shortened length Jackson also brought the rocker on the ends down a touch from the Gnarvana. The idea being that while still having the high-rocker benefits of the other, the Flow also has a slightly longer waterline for its shorter length to increase speed, and provide more contact with the water along the edges for carving. The hull is also narrowed for edge-to-edge transfer. Overall, a sporty hull design.
The Story In The Volume
The Flow contains a large amount of volume around the center of the boat. The intention here is to provide a stable, confident feel for every paddler on any stretch of river. The bow maintains much of this volumes as it rounds to the nose. The stern features a tapered, squared off tail, with a good amount of volume directly behind the paddler, and flattening out toward the end. The tapered stern is meant to provide enough volume to stay above squirrely features, but also stay out of the way as you lift the bow for boofs and kickflips. Not to mention provide crisp, carvy surfing.
The overall volume of the medium comes it at 77 gallons. When you compare the shape and volume of the medium Flow to the 66 gallon Antix 2.0 and the 91 gallons of the Gnarvana you see where Jackson seeks to place the boat among their fleet of river runners. And they make it clear in their description of the Flow, “Confidence where you need it, and sportiness when you want it.”
Jackson Flow Specifications (Medium)
Length: 8’5″ / 259 cm
Width: 26.75″ / 68 cm
Height: 14.5″ / 36.83 cm
Volume: 77 gal / 291.47 litres
Paddler Weight Range: 120 – 200 lbs / 54 – 91 kg
Boat Weight: 46.76 lbs / 21 kg
Retail Price: $1,599.00 USD
The medium Jackson Flow is available now at local retailers, with plans to release a small and large in 2024. Learn more at Jacksonkayak.com.
