When I decided to go kayaking in Madagascar with the crew—looking at first descents and multiple days spent on the river—I wondered how the ReactR would perform. I got to know and love this kayak for the way it interacts with the river, how it enables me to paddle my favorite style—inspired by spending much time in half-slice designs—keeping the boat flowy and dynamic through features, loading the stern, whipping it around, and trying to become one with the flow as much as possible. Putting a bunch of weight in my boat to bring all the things one needs for a multiday kayaking trip—such as, but not limited to, a sleeping bag, tent, food, stove, first aid kit, clothes, and cooking gear—I was wondering how the ReactR, designed as a progressive/dynamic creeker, would handle all that extra weight.
On my arrival day, I paddled a short upper section of the Ikopa with an empty boat, which was awesome for getting used to the style of river out here in Madagascar—steep, powerful, with big slabs of rock forming the whitewater. After our initial warm-up day, the plan was made to connect that upper section, “close” to the capital of Madagascar, Antananarivo, all the way to the YGP section on the Ikopa, a mere 200 km downstream, and first-descend the stretch in between, with the river dropping nearly 1,000 m of altitude.
Looking at maps and the gradient profile, we guessed this trip would take anywhere between 5–7 days, with some long, flat sections, but also some very steep gorges on the Ikopa ahead of us. Even though you are in Africa / the Indian Ocean, the temperatures are quite nice, and you don’t need to bring heavy, warm gear, things still add up quickly when you are packing for a multiday expedition, and it’s important to keep things as lightweight as possible to have even a chance of fitting everything in the back of your boat.
My usual setup for multiday trips consists of two big Watersheds in the back of my boat and a medium-sized Watershed between my legs. I like to avoid putting any weight into the bow so that I can still move nicely over features. At first, it seemed tricky to fit the big drybags into the back of my boat, but after some playing around, it turned out that when you are putting the bags inside your boat, it helps a lot to push them outwards towards the sidewalls first and then back into the depth of your stern. That way, the drybags actually fit in quite easily, which I was stoked on. I initially wondered how much stuff I would be able to put in the back with a more tapered-down stern compared to big, bulldozer-like creek boats, but this worked out well.
Getting on the water at the same put-in as the day before, I had the perfect opportunity to compare 1:1 how the ReactR behaved when loaded. Keeping in mind that the first strokes and rapids in a fully-loaded boat always feel like one forgot how to kayak and that this will never work; your boat will feel sluggish, push downstream with a lot more momentum than when empty, and won’t want to turn as easily. When it does, it’s a lot harder to correct than an empty kayak—but that is just physics and part of the game. It took me a few rapids to get used to that feeling.
One positive I noticed was that due to the wide hull of the ReactR Large, the boat didn’t sit much lower in the water compared to when it was empty. The width really came in handy here. Having the super-stable and easy-to-lean-on sidewall helps with feeling at home in the boat, loaded or not, but in this case, it just gave extra trust.
What I did notice most was that I changed up my kayaking style a little bit in order to accommodate the extra weight and now different behavior of the boat. I started paddling it less like a dynamic creeker and more like a traditional creek boat, not making use of some of the special characteristics that make me love this boat so much. But with it being loaded, you kind of have to give up that level of dynamic “whipability” and just paddle it more conservatively—which also worked out REALLY well, and the boat performed just fine. This made me realize that when you go and try a ReactR for the first time, it is very important to think about what boat design you are using currently, because that will heavily influence how you paddle and experience the ReactR design!
If you come from a traditional creeker and are used to paddling that way, you will feel and probably enjoy the ReactR in a similar way because it does that just fine—but the real magic lies in unlocking its abilities when you start using it as intended; making proper use of all axes and going “3D kayaking,” as I like to describe it.
Back to the ReactR as a Multiday Kayak…
Extra weight in the back and around your seat really exposes design flaws, because every single, slightly misplaced edge will become a much bigger issue when there’s extra weight in the boat. This makes that edge engage with the current even more, and the added weight hinders small correction strokes. I am happy to report that nothing like that happened to me in the ReactR—it just shows how detailed and tightly the R&D and prototype stage was, since no characteristic of the boat stuck out as negatively impacting my kayaking on the multiday rivers.
It’s no secret that any kayak will paddle less nicely when loaded versus unloaded, but I think that a loaded kayak always reveals design flaws in an obvious way, and I am glad that the ReactR didn’t show any negatives here!
Having enough space between my legs to accommodate my drinking bottle, sunhat, and the Watershed was beautiful. Sitting in comfortable outfitting for 8-to-11 hours a day was highly appreciated by my body, and being able to load and unload my gear from the back of my boat easily, without having to put up a fight every single time, was highly appreciated by myself at camp daily.
Not having to worry about my boat breaking or the outfitting falling apart is also huge for me, especially when you are in the middle of nowhere, paddling over sharp rockslides, dragging your boat over big boulders, and dropping it between them (this might have happened once or twice).
All in all, the ReactR might not have been designed with a multiday expedition focus, but I am very happy to report that it does the job very well—the jack of all trades, it seems like! Once again, I am super happy with my decision to make this my kayak of choice, and I cannot wait to see where my ReactR takes me this season!