Good point about great paddlers in just about any boat, Billy. I\"m sure that you'd rip it up in Corran's new babies and be able to give some insightful feeback.

DragoRossi boats are gaining in popularity in the US, but slowly. There are lots of Corran haters here so it's a difficult task, but there are also some open minded paddlers who have tried and enjoyed the boats. Of course they are not for everyone, but those who like them have plenty of fun (and the fans are of all ability levels...)

I have never been (and at this age will never be) one of the top boaters in teh world, or even the country. As far as Corran's boats go, the Glide really was the boat that gave him the reputation for making high performance but diffulct boats. That was certainly true of that boat. But, in his defence he always said that the Glide would be a difficult boat to paddle.

I sincerely believe that he has, in the past few years, pushed through the leraning curve as a designer to be able to make boats that are both more friendly and super high performance. He has a belief in which he can continue experimenting until the design becomes high performance enough to become easier to paddle. (instead of just \"dumbing down\" a prototype). It didn't work as well in the past, but is much more true today.

The Squashtail is probably the most \"twitchy\" DragoRossi boat out there and funny enough it is becoming the most popular design in that line of wonderful baots. It has a super aggressive rail, but it's also lifted up with a release chine, as well as having a really sensible template/rocker configuration.
What, in my mind, makes the boat more fogiving is how small the ends actually are. When I feel the rail grabbing at the wrong moment while running down river, it's easy enough to boss the ends around and correct my line in class IV. I got the boat not expecting anything but a park and play boat. That is surely what it was designed for and still it's main purpose in my fleet. But, I have been pleasantly suprised at the degree to which the boat is not as twitchy as I had originally expected.

By contrast, the Pintail is super forgiving, very fast and predictable. I simply cannot get enough of that boat! I never thought I'd like it, and started paddling it last year after my shoulder surgery (because I wanted a little more speed without the difficulty of paddling an old design). That was one year ago, and I still love the boat.

This has been a long post and let me just clarify my intentions:
1. to give a \"non pro\" perspective from someone who would have liked to have been a top kayaker but life and lack of natural ability got in the way
2. I have lots of experience in Corran's boats and have gone through the good and bad ones. This newest batch of boats are really nice.

If I could afford to do it, I\"d happily import DragoRossi into the United States.

cheers for all the advice! Like Billy said, time to get off the fence. I love rivers but its surfing all the waves on the way down that inspires me.... paddlin them until i get \"wigged out\" - entranced by the wave, forgetting that the rest of the river is hurtling off to the sea! Then breaking out and heading off to find the next wave downstream.

Paddling the ocean waves rocks too.......... so i am pretty set on the large Pyranha Recoil (Connect 30 spec)! It seems the dog's b*ll*cks! A freeride / playboat that will let ya catch waves all down the river and let me push my ocean surfing too................

Be lucky wherever you paddle and let the \"chi\" flow free:yes:

i saw that your interested in the recoil, I have one for $850, im not sure if it makes sense to have it shipped to you from over here, but it may be worth looking into. i'm selling the boat for much cheaper than you will find in stores and it is brand new. let me know if you are interested...
my email is [mail address protected from spambots with javascript]

Just looking for a few thoughts I'm 5'7 160lbs sz9 foot and paddle a chronic it's a great boat and has pushed me to learn how to paddle. I'm looking at getting a new boat to run 4-4+ rivers and 3-4 creeks and was thinking about the DR Stinger. I don't want to duplicate the boat I already have so wanted to check. Also it looks like the stern on the stinger will be a lot less grabby than the chronic. Thanks for the help.

Hi, has anyone got any info on if i will fit in a large recoil? I am 6ft 2\" (which is 1.88m) for the metric speakers! they are scarce in the u.k. and its a long drive to the nearest shop that has one !........ my inside leg measurement is 33\" (84cm)