So what do we know about the kayak Dagger are currently assigning the name Phantom. Firstly if and when it comes into production the boat will most likely have a different name. The maximum length of boats for the short boat class in races such as the Green Narrows river race is now 9ft. The Phantom will fall within the category.
The first and second prototypes of this Phantom have been on the water for a few years and a third prototype will be hitting the water very shortly. In all likelihood this will be a preproduction model and will represent what the finally Phantom will look like.
Thirdly we’ll probably see preproduction models sometime this year. Probably at Paddle Expo in October, with the production models being made available in the first or second quarter of 2017.
Expect contour outfitting and the usual high level of both comfort and performance. The prototypes are already winning races.
Dagger Phantom Prototype 1 (2014):
From Chris Gragtmans –
“You know what I’m excited about? The PHANTOM.
This is a concept (non-production) race boat project that Dagger Kayaks has made possible for the Team. This is version #1 of the boat, and represents pulling out all of the stops… testing and learning with every performance tweak. Mark (Snowy) Robertson is the absolute man, and we love working with him.
Having this boat sitting in my office is certainly helping with shoulder rehab motivation!”
Looking at the images and knowing Snowy I reckon the Phantom sits somewhere just below the magic 9ft number if not dead on. It looks an interesting boat I wouldn’t be surprised to see it in full production at some point.
Many thanks to Chris for letting me share these images on Unsponsored.
Dagger Phantom Prototype 2 (2015/2016):
Phantom 2 looks like a refined version of prototype 1. The overall shape and design looks pretty consistent suggesting that it is a tweaked version rather than a completely new design.
Tad Dennis has also been paddling the Phantom V2.
NORTH FORK CHAMPIONSHIP V from The North Fork Championship on Vimeo.
Image courtesy of Jake Cooper.
The following images was posted on my Facebook page by Paul Robertson showing one of the prototypes here in the UK.
For those of you who may not know Paul is Mark’s brother.
As well as the North Folk championships the mystery kayak has made a number of appearances at other competitions. These images from Johnny York show Adriene Levknecht in her Phantom at the GoPro mountain games.
Over recent years posts showing the Dagger Phantom have been very well received showing that there is clearly a great deal of interest in the boat out there in the paddling world. There is definitely more info to come and a lot of blanks to be filled but this is the kayak of 2016/2017 that I want to get hold of for a paddle.
The “phantom” is supposed to come out in October of this year but since next year is Daggers 30 anivercery they mite hold on to it till then and maybe a few more new boats.