Introducing the Shakti – a modern creek boat designed for smaller paddlers, yet with performance that’s already turning heads across a wide range of paddlers and experience levels. Since its arrival in the UK, we’ve had a few people testing it out on the water, and we’re delighted to bring you some of their honest thoughts.

About the Shakti

About the Shakti

With a volume of 300 litres, the Shakti is a full creek boat designed for smaller and lighter paddlers. Inspired by the Spade Full House, the Shakti follows with all the essential features of a modern creeker – a balanced rocker, stable hull and responsive rails. 8’10” long and 26.8” wide, this boat is designed to combine manoeuvrability with straight-line speed. The recommended paddler weight range is from 50 to 90 kg, with likely more space on both ends of the scale than expected.

This boat works with you

This boat works with you

One of the first people taking the new Shakti to the river was Bethan, a small paddler from North Wales known for her smooth lines and paddling style. Bethan is on the Spade UK team and you will mostly find her enjoying paddling the Starfire, our smallest half slice. Here are her words after testing out the Shakti: 

“It’s SO refreshing to have a creek boat that actually works with you, not against you. You can tell it’s been designed with smaller paddlers in mind, it feels balanced, responsive, and easy to control. The way it rides over stoppers rather than getting swallowed is fab. It’s honestly a boat you can sit in and makes you excited about the lines and rivers it can open up for you.”

First creeker to get me

First creeker to get me

You certainly don’t have to be small to like the Shakti. Jonny, a 78 kg paddler and outdoor professional, is one of the many who prove that the Shakti also works perfectly in the upper half of the weight range. Jonny is an experienced kayaker with a proactive paddling style and a preference for narrower feeling boats. His go to boat is the Barracuda, but he’s been paddling several boats of different brands in the last years as well. Find out about his experience:

“I have always struggled to really love creek boats. How are they supposed to ever be chosen over razor sharp, agile half slices? 

Enter the Shakti.”

“It felt reactive and sporty, it carved and encouraged me to make moves. It felt safe when it needed to without being bulky or intruding on my enjoyment, like creek boats so often do. Its quick edge to edge transfer allowed a lot of my half slice habits to still work in my favour. At 300l this boat is the same volume as some other creekers that I feel too heavy for. Even with the boat loaded up to adventure weight, I still didn’t feel like too much for it. It took two laps of the Tryweryn to convince me, a half slice paddler, to order one. Wowee, what a boat!”

Safe space to learn and improve

Safe space to learn and improve

The Shakti is designed to be safe and friendly, which is also making it a great choice for anyone wanting to push their limits on whitewater. Poppy, a fast-improving paddler very excited about progressing on her kayaking journey, shares what it felt like to paddle it.

“I feel this is the boat that would build my confidence and take me to new places. I like how nimble and reactive its hull is, bringing so much performance while feeling safe and secure, encouraging you to make that next move and step up. The boat rewards good technique and makes you want to learn more to take it to its full potential. All in all a beautiful little creek boat, inspiring confident strokes and giving you space to try new things. It rewards your input and makes you want to push for more without feeling sluggish or numb like some bigger boats can. And I really love the colour!” 

Entirely made of magic

Entirely made of magic

As soon as Jak heard we had the Shakti demo, she was on her way to get it and super excited to try this. Jak has been mostly paddling the Starfire or the Queen of Hearts, as well as spending time in a playboat. Jak is a part of global Spade team, but her excitement is genuine.

“I finally got my grubby mitts on the creek boat of my dreams! The Shakti! It genuinely took me over a week to work out words for how brilliant it is. I never thought a 270 cm creeker 300L boat would be a boat I wanted but holy hell are my expectations surpassed. I think it might be entirely made of magic. It skips everywhere like a particularly jaunty otter. Super easy to manoeuvre. Surfs way too nice and it’s even weirdly good at flat spins. Super fast and stable yet doesn’t feel boring. I didn’t even think big boats in the Tryweryn could even be fun! I take it all back. Maybe we shall make a proper big boat boater out of me yet!”

Try it for yourself

Try it for yourself

Everyone’s experience is different – and we’d love to hear yours! Get in touch and arrange a demo run directly with us or one of our dealers.