When we started on the Critical Mass, it was a call out from our top pro paddlers to “design a boat for the boys”. These are the guys pushing it harder and harder, running rapids and drops which are now on the verge of unrunable. They wanted a new design that would allow them to take one more step towards that edge.
The Critical Mass is designed to ride up and over everything the river has to throw at you. Its length is not there for speed, but for reach: to reach over the chasm between the lip of a drop, and the back of the hole at the bottom. To reach over all the funny water that messes with you between stacked multiple drop, when you simply cannot be messed with and survive.
Length for reach, but not at the expense of turning. Put the Critical Mass up against boats a foot shorter, and it still turns better. That’s because creeking is all about turning - sometimes at the very last instant before dropping over something horrendous.
The volume is placed to make the boat move forwards and away from everything it encounters. That’s what the boys wanted. But if you’re just an average paddler, running average creeks, this is good news, because everything it does for them, it’ll do for you. So you can also push YOUR limits, or simply have an easier time. Either way... you win!
