North Wales...

Following on from my last blog post about the Dagger Mamba 7.6 I am pleased to write that I have now used this boat in a few new locations.

During the half term week I headed to North Wales with friends Tori and Sam in order to run some different rivers in a beautiful location. However, and very unfortanetely, there was no rain forecast the whole week, brilliant...

We arrived in Llangollen Monday afternoon and were very surprised to see that the River Dee was running with some good flows and a good level. We instantly got kitted up, paddled along the seemingly endless canal and finally reached the get in. After a few minutes of paddling we reached the 'Serpents Tail' rapid, a class 3/4 wave train leading to a sharp drop in to a winding rapid. After 3 runs on this rapid we carrid on down the river playing on waves and holes before taking the boof line on the class 4 rapid that is 'Town Falls'.

 

 

Me running the 'Serpents Tail' rapid...

 



As there was no rain and the only river that was running was the Dee we decided to have a day of surf kayaking. We haded North towards Anglesey in order to find a beach with a good surf forecast and after speaking to a few local shops we were pointed in the direction of Rhosneiger where broadsand beach had the best surf forecast. 3-5 foot every 12ish seconds. We spent the next few hours in the sunshine carving clean waves in yet another beautiful location.

Broadsand beach, Rhosneiger...

 

 

After a day on the surf we headed back towards Llanberis to have a bite to eat at Petes Eats cafe and discuss our options for the following day. It was just our luck that the following day both the dam released River Tryweryn and Cardiff  White Water Centre were both not releasing any water. We headed towards Llangollen the following morning and had another run on the River Dee, which had a surprisingly good amount of water in it. We nailed the 'Serpents Tail' and 'Town Falls' rapids head on before finishing for the day and heading back down South to Devon.

 

 

 

Petes Eats Cafe, Llanberis... 

 

 



So after a 3 day trip with no rain there is still many positives to be taken away. Paddling on a different river, surf kayaking at a new location and being in a beautiful location...

 

Due to there still being no water once we had returned from North Wales, me and friends Joel and Sam decided to head North once again and enjoyed a very quiet day, but full on, day at Cardiff White Water Centre on a release of 8 cumecs.

 

All in all an enjoyable half term...





Dagger Mamba 7.6 review

Now that I have had the Mamba for over three weeks now I think that its about time that I wrote a review on it...

Well where do I start? The new beefed up 2012 mamba has an increased volume throughout the length of the boat with added volume distribution the mamba now sits better on top of the water. Longer rails along the side towards the hull make this creeker fun to play on and easier to carve on even the biggest of waves. With the rails in mind this makes the mamba a much faster boat.

The Dagger Mamba 7.6...

I have now paddled this boat from grade 2 through to grade 4 on some of the South Wests more notable rivers such as the Dart, Tavy and the Walkham and find that due to the increased volume the mamba surfaces extremely well after drops and slots. It surfs much better than any other creek boat I have ever used and carves extremely well in and out of eddies with help from the longer rails. However I do find it harder than the nomad to roll due to sitting higher up in the mamba above the water, although still easy to roll. I have went for the adjustable seat outfitting as during the summer months the seat can always be moved back to change weight distribution during a day on the surf. At first I was quite hesitant to buy the small 7.6 size for fear of not fitting all my gear in. However I still manage to fit in my boat 2x throw lines  map, compass, 2x torches, tape, first aid kit, glow sticks, food, water, pin kit and in front of the foot plates a group shelter and spare personal thermals and still manage to fit in a set of split paddles down either side of the seat.

MAMBA...

All in all a very good all round boat which surfs as well as Kelly Slater, carves like a manic chef, surfaces just as well as a cat in water and is as quick on the water as Usain Bolt is on land. I look forward to taking this boat to different locations and further testing it out.

Catch you on the river...