Although this boat is no longer available, I’m fortunate to be able to find these gems and bring them to you for historical purposes and provide some history for those who are conducting research on old kayaks.
I took this Dart kayak in as a trade-in on a new West Side Boat Shop kayak for a customer who just ordered a new Delta.
I called Doug Bushnell just after taking in this boat and he laughed and said this boat was so radical that almost nobody could paddle it. He called it a cross between a K1 sprint kayak and a wildwater racer.
I just plain called it the most radical, tippiest kayak I’ve ever paddled.
It will be good for me to further develop my balance skills.
I completely understand why my customer traded-up to the much more stable Delta kayak.
A few weeks later I removed the seat and installed a “Hot Seat” foam seat and it drastically improved the stability of the kayak.
Dave The Kayaker | The new home of West Side Boat Shop kayaks 
Hi Dave, saw your article on the WS Dart. I bought a dart from Doug in the early eighties and the one you took in on trade looks identical, not sure where mine ended up. I was a c2 racer and never been in a kayak when I bout the dart, talk about a learning curve! I did finally get to the point where I did a couple of races. The boat if fast but to get true potential from it you have to be highly skilled. I spent alot of time swimming! i have since gravitated to an epic v8 and enjoy the stability compared to the k1 dart!
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