About the reviewer

A creeker and playboater. Mixes it up with both.

Test environment

Tight spate creeks and rivers of Donegal and beyond.

Review

Moves anywhere and fast. Rolls off rocks beautifully and is solidly built.
Just a tad heavy for walk-in's but I'm willing to get stronger for its build quality.

Conclusion

It'll last longer than a Pyranha Burn, FACT.

...

About the tester

I am a solid class v boater. I have had a couple creeker in the past. I play a lot but have to work from a creekboat. I run he waterfalls here in Mexico, from 6 to 40 feet.

About the test environment

I tested the boat on our local waterfall run, 500 feet in a miles. Biggest drop 27 feet (right now only 20).

Review

I really like the outfitting: super comfortable and easy to set up. The bulkhead is really sweet, it can be widened if you move it back in the boat - very easy on the toes as well.

The boat is very stable and does not want to flip. Nice to roll back once it's over. It surfaces fast and steady after a drop, even if you crank your weight forward for the landing, it still sufaces right side up.

Landing flat is a little jarring but no worse than any other boat.

Conclusion

This is just the first day of running the Mystic... I'll add to this post after a few more river days.

aaron

Jackson rocker, bliss stick mystic, and liquid logic jefe

This is a comparison review of all three boats.
I’m 6 foot 215-225lbs. size 11 feet. I love creek boating but don’t get out as much as I used to. My favorite runs are green lite, Watauga, laurel fork of doe, and little river. These days it’s mainly the little or the green and I’m paddling about 3-4x month instead of the 2-4x week I did over most of the last 12 yrs. I’m not much of a playboater but I still own one and have a blast at the ocoee when none of the creeks are running. I’m always on a search for the perfect creek boat. Favorites in the past were big gun and blunt. Most recent favorites are the rocker, mystic, and jefe. Here is a brief summary of my opinions of these three boats.

Rocker currently my favorite mainly due to comfort, weight, dryness, and simple outfitting. It is a displacement hull with very little rocker despite the name. paddles differently than most of the boats I like. At my weight this boat holds a line well but needs to be encouraged to change a line or catch an eddy. Other folks seem to have a completely different paddling opinion. At first it felt like I was riding on a torpedo. Point it where I wanted and I’d go there and hopefully I didn’t need to change my mind. This took a few trips to figure out and now I like it and it sort of feels like a slalom boat to me. I never thought I’d end up in a boat like this but due to the features above and it’s great stability and the fact that it’s ridiculously easy to roll I can’t help but keep coming back to this boat after trying others. It’s not perfect. Plastic is thinner and the boat seems to flex more than the others but it doesn’t weigh much so I guess you have to pick which is more important. My rocker has the older outfitting. I’ve heard the new outfitting has better seat and is stiffer for what that’s worth.

Mystic- the newest boat so I’ve had the least amount of time in it. Awesome shape, great rocker, rolls easily, punches holes well, good stability, seems to be built like a tank…..and it weighs about as much. It does upstream ferry’s In powerful current well….much better than the huka and other highly rockered displacement hulls in my opinon My main issue with this boat is the thigh braces. I have really big thighs and the thigh cups give me a tight fit no matter how I adjust them. They don’t hurt but it makes me a little worried about getting out if I need to. This boat handles like a dream and seems to be a good boat for folks that like planning hulls or displacement since it really paddles like a hybrid hull in my opinion. It gave me a lot of confidence right off the bat. I even started thinking about running gorilla again which is something I have not done in years. This boat just felt like it would do exactly what I wanted it to even going through the notch. If this boat fits you comfortably then you have a perfect boat in my opinion. It’s heavy but perfect if it fits you and should last a long time. The new bliss stick seat is awesome. Comfy and seems to support the hull well so hopefully no oilcanning in the future.

Jefe- great design, comfy seat, lots of bow rocker, most folks seem to love this boat. I think it paddles great. I thought it rolled easily, boofs great, rides over funny water and holes and had great secondary stability. Catches eddies great. Ferrying upstream in powerful current was tricky for me since I’m used to planning hull boats so it’s a different feel and you need to cut down your angle of attack. Primary stability was not as good as the rocker and mystic and I think this is from the elevated height of the seat. This height does allow you to effortlessly do edge to edge transfers which is an awesome feel but if you are used to planning hull creekers this will feel funny at first. Boat is built well just like all liquid logic boats. I personally have really long upper legs and bony kneecaps so I never really found a way to get my knee caps comfortable but I’m not so good with modifying outfitting and everyone else seems to fit in the boat very comfortably.

In summary……my current favorites are the rocker, mystic, and the jefe. i think i could be happy with any of these if someone forced me to pick one. the one that fits me most comfortably is the rocker with the jefe and mystic being 2nd and third. as far as how the boat actually paddles i actually like the way the mystic paddles the best but it's the heaviest and least comfortable for me and my big thighs. the mystic handles so well that i'm still trying to play with the outfitting and get my legs comfortable. i wish jackson made the mystic because it would be lighter and comfortable and the perfect boat in my opinion. i'd encourage you to try all three since your body shape and paddling style may make any of these boats your favorite. i also really like all three companies.

About myself

I am an intermnediate paddler, having only been kayaking WW for 1.5 years. I paddle grade 4 comfortably, and have paddled some grade 5 WW.

I recieved the Mystic as part of the bliss-stick ambasador program. (recommend this to anyone thinking of it, they are a great bunch of guys, and it's cool to see the process of manufacturing the kayaks)

Review

Up until I recieved my Mystic I had been paddling a Super EZ, which is a fantastic boat, but although it has lots of volume, it's still a play boat, and with the broad flat bottom, it has alot of primary stability, so that was one thing I had to get used to in a creeker.

Looks:
When you first see the boat it looks like a mean machine deserving of a better name than 'Mystic'.

Hull:
The hull is not a full displacement hull, but has very slight edges. This gives the boat alot of speed when needed, and also something to work in the water when needing to turn in a hurry.
It has alot of rocker both front and back, which I love being a heavier person with the tendancy to nose most boats under.
The volume estimation on the bliss-stick site is 276 litres, the same as a MAC 1, but i'd estimate it higher than that.

Outfitting:
I have to say that the outfitting could be better...
The seat is nice and comfy, but the thigh padding doesn't work as it should, and the cockpit could be wider for such a large boat.
The velcroe in thigh padding does not hold in place very well, and I ened up having to take the pajority of the padding out, and am in the process of glueing minimalistic foam to the seat to give a more secure and comfortable fit on the thighs.
The new knee cups may work well for smaller people, but I had to take them out entirely just to fit in the boat, and even then it was uncomfortable due to the shape of the knee braces. I ended up having to take them out an attack them with a hacksaw / grinder to get them into a nice shape while still being able to use the ratchet system that attaches to them.
After these modifications, the boat is nice.

On River:
I tested it on some of my local rivers in the North Island, the Mohaka, Kaituna, Rangitaike. Havn't been able to get out enough to do anything above grade 4 atm, and none of these rivers can be classed as 'big water'.

After getting used to a creek boat from play boat, the first thing i noticed was the ease of control, it does what I want when I want, while I had paddled all of these before fine in the super EZ this was the first time i had felt completly in control. Making eddies that I wanted in the middle of rapids became simple, as the mystic tends to throw itself into them once you are part way there.
In patches of boily water the boat tends to ride up on it, but wallow in it as some boats do, keeping you in control.

Another key point for this boat is it's speed, It's a bloody quick boat. I had good fun racing some rapids against friends and winning.

Conclusion

It really is a cool boat, great to look at, and once it is properly outfitted it feels like it is another part of you.
As I had to learn how to use a creek boat in it, I would say it is great for a beginner, but once I was at home in it, it also felt great for a more experienced paddler, And seeing what some other people have been running in it, it looks to be able to cope with anything.
Pitty about the name tho...