Be careful what assumptions you make about other people.
I have been paddling for over 60 years.
I have seen plenty of people struggle to get into sea kayaks. This is especially true with some of the older boats made in Europe.
Any new thing can be a struggle until you learn how to do it and practice a few times.
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Age is a big factor in ability to get in and out of a small cockpit. Not everyone has the upper body strength to get in and out from the deck. At least half of people gain weight as they age too. In fact over half of all Americans are overweight—it’s the norm today. Cockpit sizes aren’t always keeping up with the norm.
It would have been helpful to ask the OP to comment on his height, weight, age, agility, strength, and flexibility. His satisfaction with the Dagger Charleston—very large, deep cockpit—indicates a large person. What you or I prefer is irrelevant to what a poster would be happy with.
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OP is tall and skinny, fine in age, agility, strength, and flexibility. My clash with touring cockpits is strictly that the short opening blocks me from raising and lowering my knees, and that gets uncomfortable and makes it difficult to ingress/egress at rugged locations, such as steep banks and unimproved landings. (I never put my feet in the water.) I didn’t know what a touring cockpit was when I wrote the original post, but right away I received the answers I needed to understand the situation and I’m grateful for the help.
I ran with what I learned, did my research, and I found that for my planned long distance, flatwater adventures, I need touring length (14’) for efficiency with a recreational cockpit.
The Dagger models have great cockpits to fit my adventures, and I’m excited that I found the Charleston(s). (I also love Dagger’s combination of rocker for maneuverability with a deployable skeg for linear tracking, but that’s a different topic.)
Thanks again for the help!
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I happen to strongly agree with you on this point, even though I have the opposite body shape of yours. I would add that egress is difficult in rough water with a small cockpit as it’s hard to get yourself in a balanced and controlled position for exit . Hence my plan to cut out the knee braces in my Delta 12.10 to create more space at the front of the cockpit.
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