Two One-bladed Boats from Dagger

Stability is the Ovation's stellar feature. The lack of sharp edges to "catch" the water makes this a forgiving boat. This stability inspires confidence, making the paddler sit relaxed and easy in the boat with less of the jittery feeling sometimes associated with canoes. This, in turn, enables the paddler to push his or her performance envelope. At the same time, this stability does not make the boat sluggish. More advanced boaters will enjoy the Ovation's rock-solid secondary stability. I was able to carve strong, "swoopy" turns by leaning the boat way over, resulting in that speedboat thrill of aggressively arcing into an eddy. The Ovation provides a comfortable, confidence-inspiring platform for leans and it turns in a very controlled, predictable manner. When counterleaning (leaning to the outside of the turn), the boat turns crisply, almost pivoting. Of course, you lose your speed this way, but the Ovation is easy to reaccelerate.

Boats this forgiving usually don't reward the paddler with maneuverability, but the Ovation is agile. It's a bit shy of what I would call super-high performance, but by knocking the boat down a hair from the "ultra-maneuverable" category, Dagger has preserved the Ovation's exceptional stability. Yet it still handles nicely on whitewater--I paddled it down the Ocoee as well as a Class V creek and was able to turn neatly into nearly every eddy (the ones I missed were no fault of the boat). Its length--at 11 feet, it's the shortest canoe in the Dagger whitewater line--makes it easy to tuck into small, tight spots on the river and allows it to be turned on a dime. While short, however, it still accommodates a wide variety of paddlers: Nantahala Outdoor Center instructors and guests of all sizes, from 130 to more than 200 lbs., have felt comfortable in it. It is light (46 lbs. with wood trim, 52 with vinyl), and this allows the paddler to place the boat precisely. The Ovation also does well holding a line. The recent generation of short, light canoes obviously won't track as well as longer boats and they veer more easily to one side or the other when you want to go dead straight. It tracks remarkably well, too, and responds readily to correction strokes. The result is a canoe that will carry you straight towards that "must make" eddy and then reward you with a quick, responsive turn. This responsiveness makes the Ovation a fun boat for wave surfing. It's short enough to fit on small waves, dry enough to handle the big ones, and nimble enough for quick back-and-forth shredding.

While the Ovation is easy to paddle, its top speed is low. None of these short whitewater canoes are fast, and the Ovation is no exception. Some paddlers may find this aspect of the boat frustrating, but others think the boat's lack of straight-line speed is more than compensated for by its stability and maneuverability. To be fair, the Ovation is very easy to accelerate from a standstill, achieving a comfortable cruising speed with a moderate three to four strokes. If some canoes can be characterized as "dry," the Ovation is positively arid. The flare of the sides and the rather full ends translate into very little bailing. On trips down the Ocoee, I was impressed with how the boat handled itself through big water, breasting large waves without shipping much. Of course, it fills up as fast as any other canoe when playing in a hole.

--Gordon Black

The first thing I noticed about it was its stability. Maybe I've been paddling too many converted K-1s, but it felt great to be back on a flat, wide C-1. These hull features are not only visually striking, but you can feel these qualities on the water. On waves, the Atom cuts back fast like the RPM (which I converted to a C-1), and like the RPM, the Atom has a short, slightly dropped stern which makes it carve like a banshee. It also has a nicely upturned bow, which keeps it from pearling. The second thing I noticed is that it's fast--especially for such a short boat. It carves easily from eddy to eddy, but it felt edgy, like a race boat, and in that regard it might not be a good choice for a beginner. It reminded me a lot of the Viper C-1 except it is shorter and has more rocker. (After I unpacked it and had it laying upside down in my office, a fellow C-1er glanced at the boat on the floor and said, "What'd they do, make a plastic Viper?")

Indeed, the middle two-thirds are rather Viperesque--but it differs in length and width (9'8" long, 26" wide). The volume is 66 gallons, six less than the RPM. It was designed by C-1 paddlers Steve Scarborough and Andy Bridge, who have proven they know how to design a fast C-1. The Atom's cockpit size and shape is exactly like Dagger's other C-1, the Cascade, so the same skirt will fit both boats. The ABS-molded pedestal and thigh-strap system is also identical to that of the Cascade. And, thank God, the Atom does sport a drain plug.

On one local river, the Kenduskeag, at a medium level, the Atom felt like a short race boat. At the end of the run, in a short, steep rodeo hole, the Atom performed great enders, as well as a handful of wave and rocket moves. On the other hand, 360s and vertical rodeo moves were more difficult because once the boat starts backsurfing, the edgy, low-rockered stern gets snagged by upstream water. In general, the Atom does not even like to side-surf. This feature may not be great for rodeo points, but it certainly takes the worry out of getting stuck in holes. I also ran the Mattawamkeag River at a whomping 10,500 cfs, a run with big waves, whirlpool-swirling eddy lines, massive exploding peaks and wave trains that end up in the largest haystacks I've ever seen. In the combat zone, the Atom was surprisingly stable. Again, she's edgy so I chose to keep my paddle in the water, and when I paddled hard the Atom responded like a rocket ship-- fast and powerful. The Mattawamkeag at this level can be a scary run and there were plenty of times when I thought I was going over, but with aggressive strokes, the Atom remained upright throughout the day, a testament to its solid secondary stability. In the haystacks, the Atom shot like an arrow, sometimes right off the top of waves, sometimes piercing through them. It was here that one of my kayaking friends called it the "Atom Smasher." At times, the Atom felt like a squirt cruiser. During stern squirts on strong eddy lines, it hung, bobbing up and down controllably on its wide midsection. On large surf waves, hand-only cutbacks were easy, and even on swirly eddy lines, the kind with disappearing and reappearing whirlpools, the Atom pivoted into and out of the current like a champ.

--John Frachella