Statistics:
Paddler: Height-5′ 7″ Weight-165lbs
Remix 69: Length-8′ 9″ Width-26in Volume-69gal

I cannot put my skirt on with one hand. That is why I paddle a Remix 69.

I realized this while I was paddling the source of the Eagle River in Colorado this year. After spending some time unpining a boat upstream, I climbed back to my waiting boat. As I tried unsuccessfully to put my skirt on with one hand, while maintain my deathgrip on the shrub that was holding me onshore, I dropped my paddle. So, I let go, and peeled out after my paddle with my skirt off. I had almost caught it when I saw the beaver dam.

Needless to say I quit worrying about my paddle, and started worrying about making the next eddy. I made the eddy just in time to watch my paddle become a permanent addition to the dam. I have been handpaddling ever since.

I had been paddling a Jefe for a few years, and loved the boat, but now that I was a handpaddler, I started thinking about a faster boat. On class V, you REALLY need to make your ferries. So, when I got back, I started trying out new boats.

WOW! Is this boat fast! That was my thought when I attempted my first tough ferry in the Remix. I had been demoing boats at the USNWC since that is a great place to try out different boats making the same moves over and over. My group was playing a game of “PIG”, testing everyone’s skills at eddy catching and ferrying. When Trevyn caught the last eddy before the big drop on the comp side and challenged me to ferry to the last eddy on the right, I never thought it was possible. Sure, he could make it, but he was paddling a Hurricane. A Hurricane might be an old design, but it is also 10′2″.

Well, I didn’t want to get my “G” and lose the game, so I had to try. I never thought I would make it, after all, I was handpaddling a “regular” boat and he was in the plastic slalom rocketship. Out of the eddy I went, next thing I knew I was snapping into the eddy on the other side and screaming in celebration. Ha, take that! I was SOLD! I ordered a new Remix 69 the next day.

Since then I have taken the Remix 69 on every tough run I’ve done. The biggest test came on our annual trip to Beaverfest in NY. Big class V creeking. At first I was a little worried about subbing out on the holes, especially “The Tubs”, a tough double falls that drops 20 feet into a nasty hydrolic. I should have never doubted. Once I moved the seat back a touch, the boat began skimming over everything and anything. The speed makes this a great boofing boat too. When you are going that fast, there is nothing the boat can do but fly.

Although this boat was designed as a river runner, and does great on big water runs like the Gauley, some of those river running features make it a great creekboat too. If you do happen to find yourself in a giant hole, you can often work your way to one edge, and slice the stern into the hole and get endered out. Sometimes I go for a hole ride on purpose, just for the crowd’s entertainment.

When we got down to “Particle Accelerator” I started wondering about stability. A few years ago I had an interesting ride upside down through the rapid in my gus. Since Shane at Liquidlogic designed the Remix for beginners, the stability is outstanding. I breezed through the “Accelerator” with barely a stroke. No bleeding this year! It is so stable, I ran a few rapids with my bare hands!

Overall the Remix has everything I need a creekboat to have, speed, stability, and great resurfacing.

I love it!

Have Questions?

Email Edgar: edgar@getoutdoors.us