Dagger Green Boat: First paddle

by Ryan Bayes

Early this month we received our first shipment of pre-season order boats from Confluence Water Sports. Buried somewhere under the mountain of 60 boats was our new Dagger Green boat. The ‘Green boat’ is a 11’9″ grade 5, down river style race boat. The Green boat took 11 of the top 15 places in this years Green River Race. The Green River Race is the most prestigious race held on a grade 5 creek in North America.

The mountain of boats from Confluence.

This boat is more than a grade 5, run the GNAR in a hurry, kind of boat as I’ve now found out. While the almost 12′ boat makes running the same old rapids on my local river a little more interesting its also quite rewarding to pound through big holes and drops with it’s 95 gallons. As long as you can keep it straight its gong to take you through almost anything. Where I most enjoyed the extra length was the 1kilometer or so of flat water we paddled this weekend across the lake to the mouth of the Chilliwack river. This is also the best swimmer picker upper, I’ve ever paddled.  We had a swim in the Chilliwack Canyon and I was actually able to have the swimmer sit on the back deck right behind me, and I paddled her back to her boat in the next eddy. 

Dagger Green Boat - Color: Red

Specs

The new boat and the new WCK shuttle ride. The ride was a trade for Kokatat dry suit and a roof rack. The boats almost as long as the car.

Some other plans I have for this boat are some mellower grade 3/4 multi day trips.  This boat’s got storage like a sea kayak. Multi day white water trip with a two burner Coleman stove, some steaks and a case of beer, I thinks so!!

 Here’s some pics of our run from Chilliwack Lake to Slesse Creek, almost 30km of white water.

Look close and you can see the rest of the crew playing catch up after the paddle to the river mouth. Who ever said size doesn't matter??

One handed rail grab boof over Carousel on the Chilliwack Canyon. In this boat you just dont need both hands to boof.

Surfing Surprise wave on the Chilliwack River.