I've paddled many rivers in the French Alps in June 2005 when I first got the boat with good levels of snow melt and can say the boat handled it with ease,since then I've paddled it on the Upper Dart in high water which was great, many Welsh rivers and lots of surf trips. It's super fast on a wave and initiates ends really easily very responsive in a hole you can get it hopping down fast waves. You can nail pretty much any eddy that it can fit in on even the more difficult rapids and precisely. It's super stable front and rear (unless you don't want it to be!) punches through holes really well and can certainly smash loads more moves than I'm capable of! I have seen a Chronic being flatwater looped which is most impressive