DY Special vs Advantage?

 Has anyone personally paddled a Sawyer DY Special and a Wenonah Advantage?  How do these two boats compare in terms of efficiency and stability.  I currently have 2 DY Specials but am tempted by a Wenonah Advantage.<br />

I really like efficient solo canoes.

Efficient Sit & Switch Solos

– Last Updated: Apr-05-13 10:06 AM EST –

The DY Special was an early David Yost designed marathon racer molded by Sawyer. Advantage is a later Dave Kruger design for Wenonah with marginal seakindlyness. Both were before wings started compromising utility. My fav among the old timey racers, now considered stock class, is DY's Shock Wave, available from Steve Smith's Sawyer in Michigan. But I am compact, i.e. short and light.

GRE-Newman Designs sized Classic series and Savage River' Savage seem the top modern stock solos, both available online. For compact folk I prefer Placid boatworks RapidFire and Shadow with the high sliding seat. Rapid will be back in production this month; don't know about the slider seat or Shadow.



I have paddled both
and think the DY is more kindly to us portly elderly fellows in less then ideal water…

I must admit I did not like the shock wave compared to the DY,

DY is a friendlier to larger paddlers
I think I’m better off with a DY Special at 215-220. If I was 25 or 35 pounds lighter, the Advantage would probably start to shine more.


C1W or WWC1 Jensen
For a big guy looking for a fast stable solo, both of the downriver Jensen solos are better choices than the Advantage or DY Special. For small paddlers they are deep canoes and catch a lot of wind. Of the modern solos, the Grasse River Classic XL would be the choice and from time to time on the marathon racing websites like NYCMRA they do show up in the for sale sections. The Baldpaddler would love paddling Gearwoman’s old WWC1 on rough water and he would be very tough to catch.

Bill