* Remember to put a picture or something here*

Hello everyone. Gonna write about the large scorch here in the hope that it will help you decide if you wanna buy one. Demos of large boats are very few and far between, and getting a review from someone that actually needs a large sized kayak isn’t super common either.

A bit of background: I’m 230 lbs, and when kitted up with the gear that I wear and that goes in my boat, I’m around 250 before I get wet. I teach beginner and intermediate kayaking on class 1-3 for a job and paddle class 4/4+ in my spare time. I tend to always pick the path of least resistance when paddling, which involves a lot of zig zagging around the river. I don’t make many straight lines downstream when in heavier water. I mostly paddle medium volume rivers in the Canadian rockies.

I don’t get free or discounted stuff from anyone. these aren’t biased. If a boat is a piece of shit: i will tell you. Don’t get me wrong, as soon as I get offered free boats and stuff, then I’m very happy to compromise on that.

The first thing I’ll say is that the medium scorch and the large scorch do paddle differently. I demo’d the medium and bought the large. The medium is for sure way faster, surfs a whole lot easier as well. This is a typical difference between medium and large boats.

I would also like to say that you don’t really feel any bad parts about this boat until class 4. If you are a class 3 or below paddler, you will love this boat. It’s really fun to be able to move around like this, let’s you. The water has to be quite powerful to experience the things I’m gonna get into..

The large scorch is a very manouever able, fast, well tracking kayak. It goes where you point it without locking in one direction. It’s easy to change direction mid-move. This is why you should buy this boat. This is its thing that it does better than all the other boats. (I try many boats). It’s comfortable enough and very stable. Especially when we consider how narrow it is.

The large scorch does NOT look after you. It does what it’s told. If you don’t tell it what to do, it does, literally, nothing.

It is a weapon in big water and also technical water. As mentioned, the ability to lock in the grip and release on command really makes it a great option for anyone who is able to confidently move a boat around in most situations. It deals with holes really well. It takes quite a big one to even threaten you as there is so much grip on the water that you always have something to work with. This boat had a fantastic amount of grip flat. If it’s planing, you literally have no reason to use an edge.

It changes edge really fast. It is a narrower boat, but there is also stability there. This is a good thing because it is a very grabby boat. Right behind your butt is where you will feel the water. A lot. I first paddled this on a class 1/2 city river park, and as soon as I got of the water, i slid the seat forward.

One of the things that annoys me about this boat is that it doesn’t do anything when you apply a regular amount of tilt to it. You want it flat or really cranked over. Which is annoying. I basically just paddled it flatter everywhere because cranking it that far over wasn’t sustainable in any heavy whitewater.

There’s a river called the horsetheif near me. When it’s up, it’s a very fast moving, downhill, big water run. Lots of holes to dodge/boof/punch, cross currents, diagonals, etc… It really felt like the river for this kayak. Although you were moving downhill very fast, the speed of the boat was able to buy you time across the river. I’ve run the same river in a machno as well and felt more committed to wherever I was at the start of every rapid. This felt like it would go anywhere at any time.

It boofs OK. It’s a big boat, and I’m shit at boofing. I know the videos are all the rage of “kick rocker… like a half slice… blah blah blah” don’t believe it. It boofs OK. I wasn’t impressed or disappointed in its boofing.

It is like a half slice i will say that. It’s fast, maneuverable, unforgiving, and rewarding. They got that part right.

It is really grabby, and I can not figure out why. For example: the 9r2 is grabby, but you get a clear benefit. When it grabs that lateral force is, somehow, made into forwards. Providing you stay upright. This thing just tried to tip over for fun sometimes. It’s the first boat in a long time, where I’ve been flipped with zero warning. Like, I would have no idea what happened. That sort of thing hasn’t happened to me in years. I always see or feel it coming and have time to brace or plan. Not in this thing. I was in the Fraser Canyon near valemount. I’ve paddled this stretch around ten times with varying results but never upside down. I was coming through the crux rapid, exactly where I wanted to be, and then suddenly bubbles. Quick roll and a fight with the boils coming off the canyon wall in combination with a persistent tow back – put me in the hole I was trying to sneak past. I remember, as I was being sidesurfed, thinking what the hell just happened. I have no idea. A really scary place to be as swimming isn’t really an option in there. I guess i can say that I was able to fight my way out of a class 5- area and get away without the swim, so there is that. This boat is better at un-fucking yourself than some other boats.

It is a complete bitch to carry. Seriously, go without the hooker thigh braces. It’s so bad to carry. So bad. It’s really heavy for what it is, too.

It was disappointing to see the difference in surfing the medium scorch vs. the large. The medium surfs like my ripper, absolutely beautifully. The large does not. It surfs but needs a good amount of encouragement to stay on the wave. It can do it for sure, but i just thought it would be easier. I was sad about this as the medium was just in another league. I had never sat in a creeker that could move around a wave like the medium scorch.

Rolling: This rolls very, very easily. Snaps up with little effort.

Weight: If you want this boat to paddle how it is designed to paddle, I honestly feel like I’m on the limit. Maybe just over. I wish I could tell you that if you’re 250 butt naked and dry, then you will be fine. By the time a 250lb person puts their gear on and has a bag, 6 bottle. And whatever else you carry in there, you are gonna be overloaded. I would say this thing feels like it tops out at 250..maybe 260. But that includes everything, not just your own body weight.

This boat is fast. Like downriver fast, not cross river fast. I hope that makes sense. You can ninja it so that it is almost un affected by features. If you can get the stern sunk down, it really tracks super well. Just don’t drop the wrong edge, or lean back, or relax in any way, or you are gone. I get that doesn’t sound appealing, but in heavier water, it is true.

I gave this boat out at a festival for some 190-210 people to try out on a lovely class 2 and 3 river, and they loved it. I should mention that if your limit is class 3, you aren’t gonna run into many of the drawbacks listed here.

Alright, so fast and very controllable and changeable in exchange for grabby unforgiveness.

It probably doesn’t sound like it, but I really do like this boat. I still jump into it often.

My main issue with it was I like my 9r better. I thought this was going to be a more forgiving version of a high-performance boat that could actually surf. It wasn’t. Twas a different boat entirely. My 9r2 is super grabby too but there’s a benefit to it. There are shortcomings in the 9r2 however the good parts are so good they outweigh them. I did not feel this was the case with the scorch.

I REALLY wish I didn’t like to eat as much as I do. I would then be the correct size for the medium, and I reckon I would have had a different experience altogether.

As much as i try to list comparable boats, there isn’t really a comparison for this boat. It is its own thing. The code IS NOT a comparison. The code compares well with the machno and gnar. I don’t paddle Waka boats, so maybe one of them is similar? I dont know.

Sp there you go. Not the boat for me but not, not the boat for me. If your a bigger dude looking for ultra manoueverability and speed on easy class 4 or less:this thing! But honestly, if you wanna paddle 4/5 and you are above 220-230, there are other boats that will help you be more successful in those endeavors.

Thank you for reading.

I wanted to hate this thing, and I’ve now dropped 2 grand of my hard earned and own one.

This is a couple words on this boat I haven’t paddled it enough yet be super confident but I do know there is a lot of people,like me (heavy), looking at this thing and not a lot of demos or info about it. Lots of info on the medium is already on the internet. However, this piece of writing is about the large. 

For every kayak on the market: the large sizes almost always paddle considerably different than the medium. Make sure you understand this if, like most, you have to buy without demoing and have to rely on the youtube people who never seem to give anything a bad report. Hopefully, these few paragraphs help you decide to buy, or not buy, with some confidence.

I’ll do a full write-up once I’ve paddled mine on more heavy rivers and had a few beatdowns.

I currently paddle a large ripper 1, a large 9r2, and a large scorch. All fast, narrow, edgey boats that, let’s be honest, are up there with the most unforgiving kayaks on the market. Understand that’s where I’m coming from right now. I’m about 230 butt naked and dry and I carry a lot of gear in my boat just about always, so I bring about 245-250 lbs to a boat before I’m wet. I’m not sure how to describe the way I paddle. I’ll say I do a lot of manouevring. I’ll always choose to avoid something rather than take the hero line through it. Which means lots of zig zaging and not a lot of straight lines downstream.

I demo’d the medium around 5 times before pulling the trigger on the large. I’ve paddled the large maybe 10 times mostly on 2/3 but a few times on the kicking horse which is 3/4+.

If i was gonna buy another boat, it had to meet the following criteria: (which it does for the most part)

1. Not be a complete bitch to carry. LOOKING AT YOU PYRANHA.

2. Be able to take my cumbersome body, equipment, and overnight gear and still paddle how it is designed without me having to make compromises to river choice or paddling style to compensate for an overloaded boat.

3. Forgiving. I like the idea that if I ever decide to touch class 5 again, I have a boat that will look after me.

4. Had to be easy to surf and manouever with the bow pointed upstream. Demoing some other boats made me realize that it doesn’t matter how good a boat is when it’s pointing downstream. The moves that really matter are those must-make ferries. Being able to catch a tiny wave and control the boat to buy time or change lanes in the river when you are off line/ changing plans.

5. Not a racing boat/ Not be at all comparable to my 9r2. I want to be able to have clear reasoning to take one over the other. An effective quiver.

The boat felt slow right off the bat. I’m coming from paddling very fast boats, remember. It behaved like a normal boat. This was kinda nice. Not really carvey more spinny. Wide, fat, ugly, slow. footrests move. I hate that. I hate it so much. After a few eddies, i asked it to dance around the slalom course. I remember my inside voice saying, “OK, come on, chubster, let’s see it.” I still don’t know if I was meaning myself or the boat. I can report that which ever chubster was asked to perform must have responded and really did perform. As soon as I asked it to dance it danced. I was able to hit all the gates on my local class 3 slalom course. I’m still trying to figure out how something that’s such a turd on slow/flat water manages to gather up its beer belly and move like this thing can. It surfs very well. Changes direction whilst ferrying really easily. Reacts equally well to steering from the stern and bow.

You can make this thing go as well. Once it’s in the current and going downhill, the nose stays up, and the stern stays down, and it does track as long as it’s being driven forward.  It’s pretty awesome. Keep it slow, and it’s spinny and loose. keep it fast, and it behaves somewhat like a racing boat. At least a bit. I love this. You have to be strong and somewhat fit to get the race boat feeling. It needs to be driven relatively hard. You don’t need to drive it hard for it to do its job, but it’s a really nice perk.

A gigantic drawback of this is when I peel out into really glassy fast moving water it carves round and points dead down stream, beautifully, aggressively, BUT, so far there isn’t a damn thing I can do to stop it or change its path. I gotta figure that out. My guess is if I come out flatter, it will be easier to break the demonic eddy turn it does in really fast water. Time will tell.

Rolling. It rolls fine. It rolls slower than what I’m used to. I’m used to being able to snap the boat round. This takes more time. Not more effort, mind you. This will probably be an issue when I get my next beat down. The good thing is once it’s rolled up to the halfway point, the boat does the rest of the work for you.

If your roll is a bit shit and you want a boat that rolls as easy as possible, this might not be the one. It’s not hard to roll, but compared to my much narrower scorch and 9r;  it does take a lot longer to come up

It behaves well flat and on edge. The edges aren’t particularly aggressive but they are there. That’s exactly what I wanted. Now:

It’s really really really wide. Snappy edge changes require planning and effort. I have to throw my body weight into everything I do, which I don’t like. I dont like being overly committed to one side of the boat. I like options. This may be an issue. You genuinely have to throw your body off the side of the kayak to get it properly tilted. This is a problem unique to this kayak. Other large boats aren’t like this.

It seems to boof really well. I’m actually quite shit at boofing and it does it for me. It’s the only longer than 9ft boat ive paddled that I am confident boofing. I need to get it on a more ledgey River next year to a really confirm this.

Surfs great. Seriously. This is why I got this over the other options. They honestly did a fantastic job on the hull design here. I wanted to hate this thing and now I’ve dropped 2 grand of my hard earned to buy one. Jackson normally suck at creekers. Everything before the nirvana was an actual piece of shit. They did so well hereand this kayak really deserves attention.

Weight capacity: I think this thing will go all the way to 300 pounds. It paddles beautifully with 250 in it. I finally feel like what a 160-pound paddler feels in a modern medium size. I feel high and dry, safer, less compromised, and these things really add to my experience. I understand that people at my weight paddling class 4 are like 1 percent of paddlers, and the companies aren’t obligated to give us something, so thanks to Jackson for the consideration of the fatties!

Outfitting: fuck the Outfitting. The footrest moves, did I mention that? WHY DOES THE FOOTREST MOVE! It’s where half my power comes from. I will say my legs don’t go dead, so it is actually comfy enough. It’s safe too they’ve thought about it. The water bottle holder and throw bag holder are garbage. Little bungee cords. Still, you actually get a water bottle and bag holder in Between your legs.

The boats deck is quite low, although very wide. My hands or paddle shaft don’t hit the hull. This was a concern, but you don’t have to worry.

Carrying: I sit really tight in kayaks. This one will require more outfitting as it is giant. What I wanna say is the strap that you grab when carrying is actually not available because my foot plate is covering it. If I had longer legs (I’m 6ft), it wouldn’t be, but it is. This makes carrying it a bit difficult. It’s light for what it is, and it does balance well on the shoulder, and I’m sure I can make modifications, but this IS an oversight by Jackson here. Most people under 6’2″ aren’t gonna get the use from the little grab handle in the central pillar.

This has the potential to be an excellent multi day machine for large paddlers. If you are not large sized, you are gonna be swamped. This isn’t the boat to size up into. It’s huge.

I hope this helps you folks make a decision. It’s a good boat that isn’t without problems. If you are a big paddler who wants a shit runner, this could be the one. The only competition for this is the large machno and the large code. (A new machno will be here in the future, I’m told)

Thanks a bunch for reading.

Comes on three sizes. This was the large and is 96 gallons. I’d guess it’s good for up to 250-260 pounds without gear.

I paddled the nomad for half a season. Didn’t actually get more than about 10 or 15 days in it on class 4 but spent a lot of time on it none the less.

After breaking my machno I bought a large nomad. I was pretty excited about it. The warranty, outfitting, plastic and over-all workhorse reputation of these things was appealing.

Rolling: easy enough, not as easy as the machno.

Outfitting + comfort: best in the business.

Stability: primary stability is not abundant; secondary stability is good. I was expecting the stability to be better given it’s size.

Boofability: this is where it shines for me! Very easy to boof. Takes the mantle off the stomper as easiest boofer.

Catchyness: not even a little bit. (This was the problem to me though)

Maneuverability: pretty good. It’s a very wishy washy, go-kart-on-an-ice-rink feel. It needs constant input. CONSTANT INPUT. It really got on my nerves. The lack of tracking became intolerable for me. I paddle medium volume canadian class 4. This is not what the boat is for. If I was still in Scotland I probably would have had a different experience. It does boof really well, it gets to where it’s going and it is predictable and intuitive to a point. You have to be very precise with the angle of the boat when surfing. It doesn’t like to surf. It doesn’t like to carve. On the other hand, it absolutely demolishes holes, rocks, drops (especially) and every low volume feature imaginable. It really comes into its own when the gradient of the river is turned up. That’s what this boat is for! I’d recommend this to anyone that either only cares about staying upright, or is paddling low volume runs or steeper stuff pretty much exclusively. The best way I can describe my maneuverability experience is: it kept me upright, but it spun me around plenty.

Speed: it’s a fast boat, in a different way. If there was a torque vs horsepower debate on creekers; this would be a great poster-boy for torque. If I made a mistake in the machno and ended up going through something as opposed to over, I would lose more than half of my speed. This thing kept going. Over, under, through, the nomad does not give a fuck. It’s going downhill! Sometimes there is nothing the river, nor the Paddler can do about that. I kept having to make a deliberate effort to slow it down in the slow water between features. It carries speed really well. It’s not a fast accelerating boat. It needs the help of gravity. When it gets that help: it charges.

All that said; this boat doesn’t need speed to perform. This is the nomads party feature. It can deal with remarkable situations at a crawling pace. If you are the type of boater that isn’t pedal-to-the-metal then the nomad is worth your time. It will do the charging for you.

Surfing and ferrying: not good. Not what it’s for either. It wants to spin and go downstream. Needs a lot of input or a very skilled/strong paddler to keep a fine-tuned upstream angle.

I kept getting stupid amounts of water in this thing. After much head scratching I figured out that it was the pool of water around the cockpit rim that was getting sucked into the boat via the little slots in the back of the cockpit rim that accommodate the back band suspending webbing straps.

So this boat wasn’t for me. I thought I’d love it. I paddled a Shiva for years and got on fine with that. Maybe I’ve changed or maybe I was paddling in a different country back then. It’s a really good boat in so many ways but the way boils, Eddy lines, slow/ghost water, and big water affected me in it was rather infuriating. It made me feel like a bad paddler; and that’s probably true but none the less I didn’t like it. I really loved many things about it but the type of water I paddle just didn’t compliment this boat. I think it’s gonna need a very different type/better paddler and different terrain than I can give it.

This sounds like a bad review. I know excellent seasoned paddlers that swear by this thing. I don’t want you to think it’s a terrible design as it is quite the opposite. I do want to be honest and clear about my own experience.

I would still recommend this boat. Not to a beginner, and certainly not to anyone that is coming from boats with edges. But for those who are running drops, steep and low volime stuff, want a boat that will probably never break, or a bigger paddler that doesn’t want a longer creeker, this is worth a try. It IS a good boat. Just not for me.

As a wee added extra to this review: I got this pinned in a tight canyon. Front of the boat on the right wall, back of the boat on the left. Bad swim and shitey climb out but that’s another story. Both the ends were inverted by the time it popped out. No puncture to the plastic. I left it out in the sun for a week and it fixed itself. If that was another brand of kayak it would have snapped like a twig.

There you go. This guy didn’t like the newmad. I feel like as paddlers it’s almost treason to say a bad word about the nomad as the sport owes a lot to this boat.

If you were looking for a machno-newmad comparison: sorry it took me till the bottom of the review. The machno is the better boat. I say that taking into account the questionable plastic and the outfitting. I’d have the machno over the newmad every day of the week. I should have waited for the warranty replacement.