Jackson Fun 2015 Review

Well the water has finally arrived and with it our local Thames spot has started working again and after getting fired up at the SAS Hurley Classic over the weekend we were keen to get out of the Slalom boats, so we got an early start this morning and before the sunrise we drysuited up and were ready to go……

We’ve been waiting to try the new Fun since it arrived in September, with its promise of speed and comfort mixed with Jackson’s world class freestyle designs it’s fair to say we were all keen to be first to try it and see what it could deliver…..

First off it really is a comfortable little boat compared to the modern freestyle machines, the outfitting including happy feet and a foam seat pad while the seating position felt natural and no messing about wearing out another pair of neo socks you can just keep your shoes on in the Fun!

On the wave the Fun retains a nice loose feeling and it’s relatively narrow width and edges makes it easy to carve around or spin while the stability and forgiving nature we were told to expect was definitely evident. Those flared sidewalls and little bit of extra bow rocker made all the difference on this mornings steep surging wave and the boily eddylines as did the extra speed, leading us to think this will work as a playful little river running boat as well. For those of you ‘Old Skool’ paddlers the Fun cartwheels really well again feeling really stable and balanced on end.

The only downside is the much talked about string surelock backband, which we know is a matter of opinion but in ours the backband sat a little low and slipped a little more than we would have liked…Seth tells us we’re just doing it wrong!!

Overall this is a great little boat, and for a lot of people may mean a full on freestyle boat is no longer the only option if you want to play given what is possible on a wave in the FUN, while still being a comfortable and FUN option for rivers whether your a seasoned paddler or just getting into the sport….and best of all the 4 Fun arrives tomorrow and a 2 Fun is coming at some point in 2015.

If you fancy having a go in the Fun or 4 Fun we have demo’s of both available so just give us a shout to check we’re not using it!

Photo Credits : Seth Ashworth