On the river-running side, these boats are longer, so they don't whip around into tiny eddies as well as some of the smaller designs. We recommend these boats for beginners, expedition paddlers, and people who want predicatble performance in big water. The most notable attribute these boats share is volume, and plenty of it. This keeps you closer to the surface, which helps avoid pinning, a serious drowning hazard. The edges on these boats are generally soft, which makes them exceptionally forgiving in pushy or grabby conditions.
Generous rocker aids in boofing and eddy-catching.
All in all, creek boats are set up to help keep you upright, on top of the water, and on your line, which is just where you want to be when the going gets desperate. Some of the current generation also feature planing hulls to help you blast over confused eddy lines. A side benefit to these new hull attributes is a bit of surfing and spinning performance. The worst play performance of any of the categories. The new generation will surf and spin OK, but going vertical is out of the question.