Winter has very much set in here in Colorado and so I’m not getting out on the water as much as I might like. In fact, I hiked along my back yard run of Browns Canyon yesterday and a third of the run was locked in ice, from bank to bank. Normally I would be happy to just walk around one or two ice bridges, but it seems legitimately closed now. Sad. There is not yet much snow, so the skiing is not that great. So, I’ve been sitting around and thinking about boats all the same.

Yesterday I saw that Dagger will be discontinuing the Mamba series in 2021. I have mixed feeling about this. It has been such a staple of the ‘down river kayak’ market for so long and it has been the go-to first boat for countless kayakers new to whitewater. But by the same token, it is getting a bit dated. Wide and stable, it is also relatively slow as the progression of the designs has favored the sleeker and faster. From an instruction point of view, these are not necessarily detracting points. A new kayaker obviously wants a stable platform. And a kayak that accelerates massively is not always what a new kayaker wants either. Fast boats are fun, but they often require more drive and too much speed can make for harder lines when it’s all new. Also the Mamba has an older, flatter rocker profile which is something I’m excited to see an update for as I do appreciate the trend of more bow rocker.

Then this morning I saw an official photo of Dagger’s new Code which will be replacing the Mamba. It’s not officially released yet, so I have only basic stats on hand. Hopefully that information will be available soon after the new year. Basing this totally off the top and side profile pictures, to my eye it looks very much like a shorter Phantom. More specifically, it looks like the Phantom is sized right in between the Medium and Large Code. Also, the Code appears to sport a more advanced rocker profile, bringing the bow and stern higher out of the water. Basically, I’ll bet that this takes this design which is proven to be fast and fun and makes it more marketable across the Dagger family and updates the ‘river runner’ niche that has been the Mamba. We still have no idea of what the edges look like, but I will assume that they are fairly crisp. Also, the Med Code and the Phantom are apparently the exact same width with the Code 3 inches shorter, so we’ll see how the speed compares.

Personally, I’m really excited to try this Code. Assuming (and visually this seems accurate) that Dagger managed to keep much of the speed of the Phantom and condense it into a slightly smaller package, then it really might be attractive to a wide variety of people. In my previous post I compared the Phantom and the 9RII and described, much to my surprise, how I felt that with my weight of 140 lbs, the Phantom felt a bit too large and was floating a tad too high. Check that out for a more in depth review of my test run with the Phantom.

What remains to be seen of course is how the Code will be able to play the roll of that boat that can run the gnar, yet also be the ideal teaching and learning kayak for new students. That’s why the Mamba was what it was… it could run anything, yet was still a go-to kayak for someone who was just stepping up to Class II or III.

In summation, I can’t wait until CKS Main Street gets them in this spring and I can try it out on some high water Numbers here on the Arkansas!

~ alan cammack, CRI co-owner & instructor