About the reviewer

Veteran of... only two seasons. Paddling mostly Class III, with some Class IV every once in a while. Previous boats have been Riot Booster 55, Liquid Logic Big Wheel; I also use a Necky Blunt for creeking runs.

Test environment

The Ottawa and the Petawawa rivers, both Class III-IV runs, and their playspots (so far).

Review

First impression
Just getting in the boat: it's comfortable. I could have stayed in there all day.

Second impression
Paddling up to a local playspot: it's big. Coming from a LL Big Wheel, I wasn't used to having so much boat around me... It felt like being in a creek boat!

Third impression
Sliding onto the wave: it's a lot faster than I thought, much more than the Big Wheel (although nowhere near as fast as the older Booster).

But it was someone else's boat! That day I decided I would own one. I am at the bottom of the weight range for playboating with it, but since my playboating ambitions are very modest, I wanted something that I could use to run rivers as well, and the Super Star seemed to fit the bill. Now that I have it and spent some time paddling it. I can expand on the above impressions.

Comfort: it's still really comfortable, but I am not very tall and there is a lot of room in the front that JK's Happy Feet were not able to handle. I sculpted a very large foam block, stuffed it in there, and am now much happier and have a much more solid platform to brace my feet on (and have a Happy Feet for sale...). I am quite satisfied with the rest of the outfitting. With other boats, I had to loosen the backband as soon as I was on flatwater, but with this one I can stay tight in there for a long time without the need to stretch.

Size and speed: I ended up bringing the seat completely forward in order to get the right trim and get some speed for surfing. At first I thought rolling such a wide thing would be difficult but these fears were unfounded. It's as easy/hard to roll as any other playboat.

I was impressed at the river running ability of what was designed primarily as a playboat. Perhaps what makes it a great playboat is reponsible for that: it is very forgiving. Taking it on big rivers like the Ottawa or the Petawawa, I was expecting a bracing and stern squirting festival, but was happily surprised. The boat is very stable and predictable. The tail (or lack thereof) is not grabby at all, crossing eddy lines is a breeze.

Conclusion

For someone around 180-190 lbs, the Super Star makes an amazing river running boat that can play on any river feature along the way. I'll get started on flatwater moves as soon as the water warms up, but I'm not holding my breath (no pun intended) as I would have to be 20 lbs heavier to really take advantage of the boat that way...