Nomad 8.1 Review from Fraser Valley

Check out a very informative review from the great white north at Fraser Valley Whitewater. Click below to read the full blog post.
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Nomad: People who have no fixed home and move according to the seasons from place to place in search of food, water, and grazing land.

By definition the Nomad is seen as a boat and boater constantly on the move to follow the flows of whatever is running. Often defined as the ultimate creek boat Dagger’s Nomad is one of my favorites for increasing confidence and proving itself over and over again.

When I finally decided I needed to step up my boating skills and start creeking more I knew I would need a new boat, and I knew where to get it. The only question left was, which one? With plenty of demo boats available at work I figured I would first try the ever so popular Wave Sport Habitat 74. In short, it was comfortable, maybe even too roomy and I felt like I ran half the run backwards. After a few runs of trying to perfect that I switched to the Nomad 8.1.

To me the difference is night and day! With a 5′8″ 155lb frame I found the Nomad fit perfectly with all the room necessary to be comfortable even with big shoes. It’s easy to get in and out or tighten up for that big drop with their Flip-switch backband adjustment. All I had to do was move the seat to the forward position, add some hip pads and presto. The Nomad soon became my favorite boat and one of the most popular in our fleet at work and
among friends.

It's mostly Nomads

Since they all own one, I asked my friends to tell me three characteristics of paddling a Nomad. They all mentioned the same three things; Predictability, Stability and speed. Right off the bat I noticed that the Nomad felt a lot easier to keep on track. Adding to its predictability the well-distributed volume helps the boat to
resurface quickly so you have time to prepare for the next big drop.

This boat is just so easy to paddle. It turns when you want and tucks into small eddies when you need them most.

T Cynthia McHale and I dropping some height on the Ash River on Vancouver Island.