1. Next to the G-Force you’ll notice the GT’s similar release chines but slightly curved, narrower planing surface with plenty of flare.
2. The adjustable bulk head is ideal for paddling schools and clubs. The narrow bow favours shorter paddlers,
(more on that later). With the seat in a centred or forward position the narrow bow results in a pretty snug fit for tall or large footed paddlers. The GT is a boat you are likely to spend hours in and not likely to flatwater cartwheel so taller paddlers of any weight might need to try the GTX to be comfortable. Tip: removing the foam from the plastic bulkhead buys you almost another inch. Coming back to the GT after pad- dling boats like the G-Force we realized foot and leg comfort is more a factor of width than length. Despite the added length of the GT, the narrow bow made for limited foot room.
On the Water
The first thing we noticed is that you need to get the GT trimmed properly—balanced from front to back or even slightly bow heavy. The short planing surface and hard rocker break just behind the seat allows you to, on com- mand, roll back onto your stern raising the bow for boofing and crossing larger eddy lines. If you’re not trimmed properly the boat is slower, you will fall off otherwise nice surf waves and you tend to wheelie or plane across currents instead of carving through them. Forget about working to keep the bow up, it doesn’t dive or pearl like the Redline.
Having a similar hull to the ID, the GT is an
extremely user friendly boat. With its raised edges and lots of flare we were crossing eddy lines with hardly any tilt and the twitchy stern of the Redline is gone. The secondary and final stability promotes confidence. Paddlers accustomed to edgier boats found it a soft carver, those used to mushy modern playboats loved it. Either way, both agreed the GT pro-
however removing the foam from the bulkhead gains about an inch of extra length.
3. The seat area and thigh braces work well. Velcro™ instead of sticky tape would make adjusting the hip pads ideal.
vides the experienced paddler the comfort zone needed for harder river runs while begin- ners and intermediates benefit from having a boat for which they don’t need to remember all the rules. One tester summed it up best, "I haven’t felt so at home in a boat since my RPM." Why is the RPM one of the best selling boats? Because people are able to paddle it. Eight feet and lots of rocker might be the
perfect combo for blending flat, green all-day front surfs and respectable spinning. For a lit- tle perspective the GT is only an inch longer than Wave Sport’s XXX. Get in a munchy side surf and you realize the GT is a longer, larger volume boat, and it’s not as easy as we remem- ber to blast our way out. Which is okay, most likely GT owners aren’t really into big munchy holes anyway.
The Bottom Line River runners aren’t hanging onto their five- year old boats because they are cheap, there just isn’t a huge selection of new boats satisfy- ing their needs. The evolution of rodeo boats has shown us that you don’t need ten feet of plastic to get down a river, but the hottest freestylers are now too specialized to be passed down and resold as all-river boats. By combining the slippery feeling of their freestyle planing hulls with the user friendliness of older, popular designs like the Redline and RPM, Dagger has the makings of another winner in their line-up. For 2003 Dagger will round out the GT series with a smaller version making the GT family a good choice for freeboaters, schools, clubs, new boaters and anyone else looking to catch an eddy.
Garberator Rodeo
September7/8 2002
Ottawa River 1-800-267-9166
trashed at the Garb!
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www.ottawakayak.com fall2002 51
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