For most of my whitewater career, I’ve been a raft guide who also kayaks, and so my summers have been spent taking strangers down familiar waterways, my winters have been spent in a creek boat, and I’ve never had much need for a half slice. That changed last summer when I decided to add videoboating to my resume. This resulted in the purchase of a well-loved Ripper 2 for work.
Around the same time, I found a deal on a Firecracker, a boat I had wanted for years, and I couldn’t pass it up. In one Spring, I went from rarely paddling a half slice to paddling my two half slices more than any other boat. I’ve gone back and forth justifying owning both the Firecracker 242 and Ripper 2 M, but have never been able to let go of either. I do, however, understand the stars don’t always align to allow so much overlap in a fleet. Hopefully, my experiences in both may help someone make the difficult choice I’ve been avoiding between them!
Side by side, the Ripper 2 and Firecracker are quite different-looking boats. The longer, slightly flatter profile of the Ripper 2 compared to the short, wide Firecracker offers very different styles of paddling and playing. The Firecracker (which I borrowed from my local shop before I bought one on my own) was the half-slice I learned to stern-squirt in. Having finally started to understand the timing of the hip flick to get the Firecracker stern down, I was faced with frustration my first few laps in my Ripper 2 when I couldn’t get it vertical. One day, though- and I wish I remembered who gave me this insight- I had the chance to be paddling with a top-tier boater who shared the nuance in getting a short, snappy stern down as opposed to long, lazy stern squirts. After that, jumping between the boats, I could iron out the adjustments, and now both offer endless play in eddy lines.
As far as surfing, the Firecracker is of course a standout. As I try more and more Pyranha designs, I continue to reach for the Firecracker when surfing conditions on the local runs are ideal. The Ripper 2, however, performs a little tighter and snappier on waves but is a great boat to surf nonetheless. Its length can sometimes hinder me on certain waves, where the Firecracker may be better suited.
Though it sometimes comes with drawbacks, the length of the Ripper 2 really shines when I want to push myself in a half-slice. I’m unsure if this is aligned with popular opinion, but if I want to take my half-slice on something steeper, I want my Ripper 2. The speed and agility that boat provides when you’ve spent a lot of hours in it can really perform on some more challenging whitewater. The Firecracker can rip some beautiful boofs, but sometimes I find it a little harder to reach the speed I need to make moves and get through holes. I still feel confident in my Firecracker, but the chance of me being endered is much higher.
The sizing of either design will significantly affect the boat’s “sportiness.” There’s definitely a big difference between the feel of the small Ripper 2 and the large Ripper 2, but as a very medium-sized paddler, I can fit into them both pretty comfortably. When I was lighter, I preferred the Firecracker 232 but still liked the Ripper 2 Medium; now I prefer medium in both. Sizing can be tricky, and the most effective way to know which size you’ll like is to get in the boats and test them out.
In conclusion, choosing between the Ripper 2 and the Firecracker is never going to be cut-and-dried. Many of one’s benefits highlight where the other may have shortcomings. For anyone deciding which boat to buy next, I encourage you to try as many styles and sizes as possible and reflect on the goals you want to achieve with the boat! The beauty, I think, in these two designs is that you really can’t go wrong with either, and their versatility allows paddlers with a range of goals to find the right boat.