I love my Sundance 9.5. I have taken mine all over and it does surprisingly well in all kinds of conditions. Most of my paddling is Midwest lakes and rivers, but I have had it out in the ocean (on a REALLY calm day) in OBX. It tracks amazingly well for a short boat. It's a little slow due to it's width but that just gives you more of a workout when you are paddling with friends in longer boats. The only time I've had qualms with it was when I had it out of it's element, it got to be quite a handful in the Pamlico Sound at OBX on a windy day with 2-3ft chop but still it was very stable, it was just difficult to make much headway, turned into quite the epic 2mile paddle. I also tested the Dagger Blackwater 10.5 and thought the Sundance tracked better and was more enjoyable than the Dagger. One note on the Sundance, the stock flotation is only enough to float the boat by itself, if you swamp it, it becomes a submarine if you try to re-enter it. If you are going to paddle it anywhere where a capsize will put you in distress then add more or replace the stock flotation with something that will keep you and your boat afloat, and test it out thoroughly before you need to depend on it.
