Jackson Gnarvana: New River Gorge at 5.75 feet

A great afternoon on the New River Gorge in West Virginia after a 7 hour drive before hitting Upper Gauley! :) At 5.75' the New River Gorge offers epic wave trains and joyous big water bliss!! SUCH a fun river. The Jackson Gnarvana absolutely LOVED this bigger water!
#Gnarvana #jacksonkayaks #newrivergorge
Music: "Obiero" by Ayub Ogada

[@followingrj]

Picking up the same boat and color in March….stoked 🙌

[@SouthernYak]

congrats! The gnarvana is a great boat!! I continue to really, really like mine!!!

[@danejacksonkayak]

🤘

[@SouthernYak]

Gnarvana and bigger water is sooooo good!!! Y’all hit it out of the park with this boat! I loved paddling my nirvana these last years but I won’t be looking back hahaha.

[@LeftCoast_TomP]

Passing up a fair number of what look to me like good surf waves.

[@Lost_Cove_Lloyd7]

Beautiful man!! All around!! Great edit!!

[@SouthernYak]

Thanks so much! It’s a beautiful section of whitewater. And thanks for watching!

[@jonnynails]

Looks like a fun level!

[@SouthernYak]

It was big water bliss for sure!!!

[@DejanSmaic]

What size was your Gnarvana?

[@Michael65429]

Man, you passed up some of the best play waves @ 2:25...

[@1stVARifleman]

Nice video. I’ve never kayaked the New River Gorge above 2.0 ft. The group I paddle with a lot prefers lower flows. However looking at the 3 Kenney Rapids in your video it looks easier at this flow. Easier in the sense it is way less technical just big wave trains. IMO, wave trains are always some of the most fun rapids but also usually the easiest rapids as long as you T the waves up, keep paddling, and don’t get intimidated and hesitate. To play devil’s advocate with myself, no doubt a swim would be more difficult to deal with and if you swim at Upper or Middle Kenney there is a good chance of swimming all the way through Lower Kenney. Also, y’alls line at Lower Kenney was in the middle. I’ve always been told to start on river left with a right boat angle, but at those higher flows your line looked easier. I think at lower flows you have to start more on the left bc the middle would be pretty manky as all the water is pushed left at Lower Kenney. I’m definitely going to get a GNarvana eventually. I love my Nirvana and Antix 2.0. I also have a Zen 2 and Traverse (probably going to sell or trade my Zen 2 now). Keep sending it and maybe I’ll see you on a river one day. I live in Virginia close to Goshen Pass, so I’m only like 2 hrs from the New and Gauley Rivers.

[@SouthernYak]

how nice to have the NRG so close to home for you!! Yeah big water stuff can be less technical for sure and in some ways easier as long as you are good with big big waves and super swirly Eddys. Tons if fun!! And I cannot say enough good things about the new Gnarvana!!!

[@4JudgeSmails]

You are generally correct from what I know. 1-2’ and the Keenies are kinda rowdy chaos. At ~4’ the wave trains get more defined and feel smoother. But yeah, the swirlies get more dynamic and meat grinder comes into play.

[@4JudgeSmails]

You are generally correct from what I know. 1-2’ and the Keenies are kinda rowdy chaos. At ~4’ the wave trains get more defined and feel smoother. But yeah, the swirlies get more dynamic and meat grinder comes into play.

[@ethanstrattan9304]

@@4JudgeSmails Spot on. Much higher than this and that calm stretch between Middle and Meat Grinder gets awfully short and pushy... 5-6 is my favorite level on the New

[@777PLove]

nice vid I really like my old nirvana way better on the rive addled the Gnarvana 2 times sold it great boat not my style lucky too be able too get the old ones way less brand new fyi people

[@the_uncommon_kayaker2536]

💖🤩🤩