Waka Kayaks Stoke - Shredding Veracruz, Mexico

After paddling the Waka Stoke for 4-5 months on lots of different styles of whitewater in the Pacific Northwest, I had little doubt that the Stoke would be an amazing boat choice for my guiding trip to Mexico.
The Stoke is 9 feet long, has a nice balanced bow rocker, a bit more narrow than the OG & Steeze, and has a hybrid stern that gives this full creek boat a half slice like feeling in a lot of situations. One of the biggest pros that I found in this boat was that my daily landings on drops like Spirit Falls were much more forgiving than my other boats. For Mexico, being a waterfall mecca, this is a must for a middle aged has been like myself ;)
Spending a week descending my favorite jungle canyons in the state of Veracruz. I totally fell in love with the Stoke’s ability to make all types of whitewater entertaining and accessible. It gives you that “easy-flowy-waka-feel” but at the same time provides more performance and rewards good technique with extra speed, dynamic edge to edge transitions, and a ton of boat control. Durning long skips it carries speed through boils, stays on line through slack water, and the Stoke even feels fast in flat water. I was just about to turn 35 on this particular trip and I knew that if I ran some of the bigger drops, I had to be perfect. Mistakes could mean extended time off the water at my age. While stepping up to drops like Tomata, Silence, and low water San Pedro the Stoke gave me a little extra confidence, with not only softer landings, but easy hand rolls as well. That slightly narrower hull makes rolling super intuitive even without a paddle!
Overall The Stoke felt like a perfect choice for this type of trip and I would 100% take it back to Mexico for another round. After a year of paddling this design, I would say the Stoke fits in the category of a really sharp feeling high performance creek boat. This kayak is an amazing daily driver. The Stoke gives you more stability and safety than a 1/4 slice or CreekSlice, but also gives you more speed and performance than a bigger tank style creek boat. It’s a true paddlers boat. Give this design what it needs and it will reward you every time! Enjoy some highlights of my short trip to Veracruz Mexico in the Waka Stoke.

[@domenblaznik7104]

Brings back that bomb flow vibe 🙌🙌

[@paddler111]

that style 😍

[@Chris_Burkhardt]

Sick! Those skips…

[@AriintheAir]

So epic bro, so dialed

[@beantooth]

woah. es perfecto!

[@paddler511]

Little too sick na sahskee

[@asksteevs]

Awesome!

[@tayytes]

Dad goes boating

[@evangarcia9698]

Dad straight off the couch!!!!!

[@WhitewaterOutdoors]

@1:34 was sick!! Also what’s the name of that song?

[@notorious_media_tent]

So epish