Dagger Aon - Action+

The Aon is a collaboration between Palm and Dagger, built in the UK, and it aims straight at the gap between an old fashioned river runner and a modern performance boat. If this is your first whitewater kayak, or you have been paddling a club boat and want something that will keep up as you improve, it is the one to look at first.

The hull is wide and planing, which is what makes it feel settled under someone still getting used to moving water, but it carries speed rather than ploughing. The bow rocker is high, so the boat rides up and over features instead of burying into them and resurfaces quickly, and that does a great deal for your confidence on a first proper river. The stern is wide for stability and holds its speed, with a crisp rocker break and a tapered tail behind it, so once you start putting the boat on edge it will change direction and slice through a wave rather than fight you.

Action+ is the fuller of the two outfitting options. The seat and thighbraces both adjust and the bulkhead footbrace adjusts for volume as well as length, so the boat can be set up properly around you rather than approximately.

• 263cm long, 68cm wide, 35cm deep
• 297L volume, 20.5kg
• Paddler weight range 63 to 91kg
• Cockpit 90 x 49cm, takes a size 4 spraydeck
• High density polyethylene, made in the United Kingdom
• Action+ outfitting with adjustable Action seat
• Adjustable thighbrace with thighbrace mounted backrest ratchets
• Contour Lite backrest, hip pads and seat pad
• Volume adjustable Contour Ergo bulkhead footbrace
• Four anodised aluminium grab handles
• Gear loops and minicell foam pillar buoyancy
• Outfitting kit included

Worth checking the cockpit size against your spraydeck before you order, and we can sort you out with a size 4 if what you have does not fit. The Aon is also made in Sport outfitting if you want the simpler specification.

See the rest of our whitewater kayaks.