I will say it now to save you the time:
Jackson did a great job and designed one wild creek boat!
After doing the research, making the order, and then waiting 5 months patiently for my jet black Rocker I was more than ready to unwrap the thing and put many hours of reading Jackson web site updates and technical data study into reality by the time it arrived. I finally was able to pick the boat up during the week before labor day weekend which was a little late as I was just about to set out on a 4 day self support trip down the Babine and Skeena Rivers, northwest of Smithers, BC. There would be 11 of us in total on the trip, most hailing from Terrace and Kitimat with myself and a close friend driving the 20 hours north from Nelson, BC (I had been living in Terrace during the previous year).
The trip is sorta less on the paddling and more on stunning scenery, but, when you least expect it, you suddenly find yourself getting back-endered into massive mirage like holes or pin-balling thru tight constrictive boiley and churning canyon hydraulics that are all home to feasting grizzly bears waiting to snag spawning north pacific salmon on either side of ya. If It's not the swim that gets ya, the curious 400lb feeding grizz in the eddy pool should. River protocol - Don't Swim!
Oh, what a trip it was. The Babine is quite a well known and classic run in the area and being in the care of a few Babine veteran paddlers made it really an entertaining -"hiccup" - journey.
Hoping that I would of had some big water demo time and/or new boat handling/outfitting characteristics figured out before packing the Rocker right up with 85lbs of camp gear, food, clothing and booze made me a little nervous, especially seeing that I had limited stowage space due to the untraditional foot brace, foam pillar and hull rod integral relationships. I watched others remove their boats’ pillars and footbraces all together in order to cram extra gear. However, during the boat packing party on the night before our early morning put in, My early misconceptions about stowage room were proven wrong and I ended up fitting everything and a lot more into the Rocker, and might I ad, all extremely well!
With the fully retracted (and slightly filed down) foot brace plate I could slide 2 small flattened dry bags under and behind the unique system in the bow. Then the accommodating height of the rear cockpit rim edge and peaked stern deck gave me an advantage over many of the other boats on the trip (ie: Jefe’s, CFS's and Nomad’s) and allowed for great ease when it came to 4 days of stuffing and removing large compression sacks and dry bags full of food and supplies from behind the back band. There was also a 2 man tent, camera case, bear spray bottle and throw bag tucked horizontal, yet comfortable and safe under my knees and strapped down and buckled firmly around the rigid hull rod. The rest of the oh-so-simple “is this really gonna work” foam and pull cord outfitting then did its job superbly and kept me tightly cradled and cramp free (a first in any boat for this 6’3”, 170lb Canuck) for the entire trip. And how about those slick grab loops. Hauling the boat up to the camp sites off the river edge was so delightful on the wrist that people were trading me boats to do so. Lotsa good remarks from the entire group about those loops. Then there was that resilient jet black cross-linked plastic all around me that made the boat so damn slippery on some seal launches that I was more scared trying to get into the boat than the class 4+ rapid I was dropping into. But the trade off for the plastic allows for an impressively light, virtually puncture proof and thus stiff and strong, 8’, 74 gallon, hydraulic bulldozing machine. Never did I come off line as the boat tracks really well, edges and accelerates like wet glass, cross currents, punches holes and smooths over boils in a big gentle giant sort of way. It does everything the Jackson web site says. It feels like a big boat, inspires confidence, yet it handles like a playboat. And with that as I just have to say it, as it was a fully loaded "creek boat", -it surfed until I puked on some of the huge rumbler waves found along the impressive and massive Skeena River that ended out our trip. Our groups few surf addicts, including myself were all dueling it out over the days on some of the most amazing one shot river play waves offered in BC. In the end, it was the graceful and simple “flat -displacement” hull lines of the Rocker that had the most complete and epic surfs chalked up -and what doozies they were. 2-3 minutes some times of 255lb creek boat wave “grader-ing”. What a wild feel. Sorta like riding in and on top of molasses. I haven't had surfs like that in my (non Jackson) playboat, ever!
So there you have it. Probably the first documented self support run in a Rocker by someone who doesn't work for the company and all I can say now is that I am ecstatic about the whole experience. I cant wait to chase the run-off here in the West Kootenays next spring with this new boat of mine. I am glad I waited as long as I did and that I took a chance and gambled on an “unproven” creek boat design. However, I Jackson after seeing the success with the Star and Fun Series, which by the way, I have been demoing and have narrowed it down to a 2006 All Star after sitting in and surfing it and 4 other company’s top designs. Man does the all star have them all beat. If there is anything I can complain about though (this goes for both boats) it has to be the back band and how it drops too low after doing a few good torso movements. I solved the issue by building a plastic, adjustable, vertical height plate that cotter pins to the rear of the back band and sits right over the hull rod between the rear pillar and seat; sort of influenced by Riot’s recent outfitting scheme.
Enough Said. I am one happy customer and will be watching Jackson Kayak take the forefront in boat design and sport leadership in 2006 and beyond. I thank them for their creative and athletic energy and will cherish the day I get to paddle with any of those Jackson guys or any other happy Jackson customer on a piece of water somewhere on this great earth.
Grizzly Bears in the eddies are optional...

Carl
Nelson, BC, Canada.