Does anyone have an opinion about Dagger kayaks in general and/or do you feel the Dagger Specter would be a decent kayak for a beginner?
there’s better boats
out there for learning. The Spectre has a pretty weak seconard stability plane and gives up a lot on confidence inspiring moves. It’s very loose in tracking as well, tho is highly maneuverable.
steve
I lkied the Specter
as a first boat. Wife and I both had one in airalite. First and secondary stability is great for a beginner. At 15.5 feet it can move pretty good. Cockpit is big, so it’s easy for beginners to get in and out. It needs more deck lines, but that’s easy to fix. Lots of storage too. We both have QCC-700’s now, but it’s still fun to get in the Daggers once in a while.
Where do you plan to paddle?
– Last Updated: Mar-28-08 3:01 PM EST –
The three boats in this series are rather different creatures. The 14' lacks any perimeter rigging, that and the 15' plastic have a huge high seat back that sticks well above the coaming and could complicate using a skirt, and all of them are fairly beamy with a big cockpit that could challenge good contact for controlling the boat. The cockpit width alone is within a half inch of the waterline beam of my Vela. I'm also not sure how dry the hatches would be with the system they use, though that's always harder to tell from a photo.
Before you even get to the performance characteristics that Flatpick mentions, which are worth considering well, it is impossible to answer the question without knowing where you'd plan to paddle and what your longer term goals are. If the goals are to go out and play in ocean waves, you may want to be pickier about even your first boat than for paddling on a quiet pond or slow flat river.
Also, I am guessing from your name that you may be a female. I am average height at 5'4", and I would likely have a devil of a time finding good contact points in that size cockpit.
Post a link!
– Last Updated: Mar-28-08 4:35 PM EST –
http://www.dagger.com/specter-15-0
http://www.dagger.com/dagger-product-group/touring