Review: Jackson SUPerCharger SUP

Short Review:
Good beginner board for whitewater, but a poor river surfer and flat water paddler. The SUPerCharger is a cheap, bomb proof board that I might recommend for beginning whitewater paddlers, but can be out-grown quickly as paddling skills progress.

Long Review:
I like to think of the SUPerCharger as the Cadillac of whitewater SUP boards… but not in the sense that it is the top of the line. It’s the other qualities of the classic Caddy’s that the SUPerCharger shares: big, slow, smooth, stable. It excels that these things… to a fault.

The SUPerCharger was built for running rivers, so let’s talk about that first. It is by far, the easiest board to paddle downriver on. It is so stable, the only thing you have to worry about is forgetting good paddling technique. You can paddle this board down class 2 and 3 whitewater, sideways, while spinning the paddle in the air, blindfolded. Ok… maybe that’s a bit extreme. Let’s just say this board makes it so easy to paddle whitewater that it feels like cheating. It’s no wonder that people are running their favorite kayaking runs on this board. It’s just that easy.

As a beginner paddler, this is a wonderful board. It is super stable, tracks well, effectively indestructible, and is almost impossible to flip. The five different handles on the board make easy to climb back onto when you fall off. The deck pad as well as the plastic, hollow, roto-mold construction make for a soft (compared to other hard boards) landing when you fall directly onto the board. This is the perfect board for the first-time whitewater SUP experience.

Once you’ve progressed beyond the beginner level of paddling, you might find this board a bit hard to enjoy. If you want a challenge on the SUPerCharger you will have to look for bigger and more technical whitewater. Class 4 or 5 whitewater would be much more fun on the SUPerCharger, but might not be safe to run on a SUP in general. Falling in and swimming is going to happen when you whitewater SUP. Given that fact, I would rather swim class 2 or 3 rapids rather than class 4 or 5. So if you’re only going to paddle safe (class 2-3) runs, how can you make it fun and challenging? Paddle any board EXCEPT the SUPerCharger. A 7’6″ Badfish MVP-S is a ton of fun to paddle in class 2-3, whereas the SUPerCharger can make it a bit of a bore.

The SUPerCharger can be used for flat water paddling as well, but it is so heavy and slow that it feels like paddling a barge. Again, it would make for a fine first-time-paddling experience on flat water, but after that it would become boring. The one unique thing you can do is put two (or more?) paddlers on this super stable board and paddle it tandem!

For river surfing the SUPerCharger is almost a joke. The only reason to try surfing it, is to see if it’s possible. It’s like trying to surf a wave using an inner tube… it might be fun for some laughs, but it’s not really surfing.

The SUPerCharger is so big and slow that it’s hard to make quick turns or adjustments while surfing. The only thing you can do is try your best to keep the nose pointed up stream. Once it starts to catch a rail in the current or the nose wanders too far to the left or right, you get kicked off. It takes too long to make adjustments on the slow old SUPerCharger to correct and stay on the wave. That being said, trying to surf it is good for a laugh or two.

The construction of the SUPerCharger as bomb proof as any other board out there. This might be the most durable board on the market. It’s constructed the same way as kayaks, and its fins are made of heavy and durable plastic. This board can be run over rocks for years without seeing any real damage. The downfall to this type construction is the weight. It is HEAVY. You pretty much need two people to carry this board any distance.

The only part of the construction that I dislike is the deck pad. Although very soft, comfortable, and friendly to fall on… it is SLIPPERY once it gets wet. Jackson should have outsourced the deck pad construction to an experienced surfboard company rather than trying to design their own. It’s a huge failure that hopefully will be fixed in newer models. It was such a big issue, that I completely removed the pad and replaced with Dakine deck pad before I took it on a river trip.

Overall, I am satisfied with my SUPerCharger. It is a quiver board, that is only meant for down river whitewater paddling. It probably won’t get much use, but it’s a nice board to have. It’s a GREAT beginner board and comes at a fair price. If you’re considering purchasing the SUPerCharger as your first board, expect to grow out of it before the season is over… but it’ll be a nice board to keep around for certain occasions.