Dagger Atom - Changed the WW World?

[oopsiflipped]

I posted in the ongoing thread, but no one has risen to its defense. What the heck is this boat for? Doing super cool stern pivots maybe?

How did this boat change the whitewater world? As an example of what not to look for in a C1?

I know my paddling will improve if I stick with the Atom, but it is weird!

[jim gross]

the local paddle shop owner gave me one to demo when they first came out. i proceeded to trash the boat on 2 low water class 4 runs . lower big sandy wv and top yough. the factory outfitting was loose on me but the boat paddled wonderfully.i think the design was a launch pad for further c-1 design. alas i didn't buy one cause i was already building my own purpose built c-1s. like plaining hull play boat, high volume tripping boats. very edgey hard chined river runners. i was leary of the atoms pinning properties though. actualy very leary. JIM

[knu2xs]

Paddle it like a race boat and you will love it. Living in ID, the Atom would be my boat of choice for many of the regular runs around the Moscow area, especially those high volume runs! With edges and speed, the Atom makes accessible waves most kayaks can't even look at, big, glassy and screaming fast waves found when the river level is measured in tens of thousands. Like a race boat though, it is extremely unforgiving of sitting on your stern and being complacent. The Atom wants to be paddled down the river, going faster than the water. As soon as you are going slower than the water, it does not like it, the water piles up on the stern edges and life gets, "interesting."

[KNeal]

Well, I'll add my $0.02 about the boat. I've had one since '98 and am still liking the boat just fine. Taken it down big water like the New River Gorge and the Upper (and Lower) Gauley. Done more technical stuff like the Upper Yough in it and have run it (sort of ) down Wilson Creek (at least about half of it til I tore my skirt ). I felt the boat did well enough on all those runs. The boat definitely is not designed for the creekier stuff like the Upper Yough and Wilson, but has done well for me on the big water runs. Ran the New Gorge at 6.8 feet (Fayetteville guage) and caught a MONSTER surf at Enders Wave. Maybe someone more savvy than me about the Gorge at those levels can speak up (Bernie? Cosmik? Jay Ditty?), but I'm convinced the monster wave I surfed that day must of been up to 8 feet, trough to tip! River was so fast that day, I could only catch the 3rd wave, but OH, BABY! What a SURF! The Atom does have its limitations and it is really only a river runner, but it is a good design.

BTW, I have been trying to see what I could find out about shipping from your neck o' the woods to see if it would be feasible to relieve you of that "most disagreeable" piece of plastic that's litterin' your humble abode. Now, I gotta say that the hip grabbers Dagger installed stinks! My boat came out before that and it definitely feels different that those later models.

After saying all of that, what do I REALLY know about that boat? We need better opinionated cboaters chiming in on this subject, like "Squeaky", and Marshall (can't remember your cboater moniker, sorry ). They'll have MUCH better opinions about the boat than I.

KNeal

[oopsiflipped]

Maybe I'll hold on to it for a while. I just feel kinda silly having so many boats. I'm used to being able to move acroos the country at the drop of a hat. Now I've got 5 boats and a desk job...have to keep the job, so I was thinking of ditching a few boats.

I think the Atom will probably be a a blast if I ever get good enough to paddle it.

[Jim]

Yeah, 5 boats is kinda silly.

When you get 10 you are a serious boater .

[knu2xs]

Let's see now, to my name I have 12 boats scattered between two different states and 16 hours. Thankfully, they are getting used by at least six different people on a regular basis.

[Craig Smerda]

That boat only likes to be paddled in one direction... forward.

[jim gross]

they spin and go upside down great. it made for a pretty good water fall jumper too

[Alden]

Joel, our mutual friend Erik took an Atom down the Green Gnarrows once. He broke his nose during the run.

Can't you just imagine Cathy on the bank that day thinking to herself, "Man, Erik's nose is throbbing because he just broke it at Go Left, but he's paddling better than ever! Maybe if I tell my racers like Joel and Alden to focus . . . on their NOSES during runs!"

Alden

"You can't expect Craig Smerda to always post interesting things on the cboats forum. You have to check the Liquid Lounge."
-- Mark Twain

[jim gross]

BWA HAHAHA

[knu2xs]

Eric told me the story. It is funny. He still thinks it is a decent creeker.

[Walsh]

Joel, our mutual friend Erik took an Atom down the Green Gnarrows once. He broke his nose during the run.

Funny . . . I worked with him at the time, and this precise incident (two black eyes are always horrifying to see) hardened my resolve to stick with flatwater canoeing and never become a whitewater paddler. I would rant to anyone who was willing to sit in the Potomac Outdoors bike shop and listen to me about how much safer mountain biking is.

Later that summer I discovered the Skeeter hidden away in the boat yard, and six years later, I'm lurking here . . .

[Kelly-Rand]

I have an Atom and I have yet to paddle it to it's full potential but I have become a much better paddler because of it. It was the step up from the GyroMax I boat the year before and from the XL-13 I had been in the previous 5 years. I had never ferried across a river so quickly till then, and soon afterwards all these waves and micro-eddies that I never caught before were mine. The only drawback to the Atom was my discovery of the Viper (C1) 3 months later. Between the two boats I have been severely spanked several times for my casual behavior on the river. They have tempered my desire for a new boat for several years. Did the Atom change the paddling world? No, I think not because the serious boater just added it as another alternate, and the kayaks ease of use made it the boat of choice for anyone getting in the sport.

Jim

[boomstick]

I paddled the Atom this past weekend and found it to be one of the fastest boats I've paddled. It goes forward fast, it turns fast, and it flips over fast. On the plus side it does roll. The boat seems so strange as both the bow and stern are really flat. I can see this boat forcing me to improve my skills over the next few months.