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After taking my friend John Grill for a short paddle to thank
him for all his help building it, my wife Becky also got out from behind the
camera for a short run up the river. We all found it a bit tippy which will take some getting used to. I may
lower the seats by a 1/2 inch to try and make it more stable, but the round hull
is inherently tippy even when sitting on the bottom of the boat.
With 2 people in the boat it is fast, and it settles in to
the water at a nice level. When I took her out for an extended solo cruise
I found that it does track well and is not adversely affected by cross wind.
The trade-off of the flat rocker design seems to be that it does not turn very
nimbly. Also when solo paddling using the j-stroke I felt that the boat
was crabbing sideways more than I would have expected.
Overall I am very pleased and plan to get a lot
of use out of this sexy looking boat. We'll be taking it up to our family
cabin on Frenchman's Bay, "down east" in a week or so for some extended paddling
around the islands. Footnote:
I was surprised how quickly I let go of the preciousness of the canoe, the
moment it hit the water it became a "just a boat" to me. I was not
paranoid about scratching it up on the beach since I knew that I could repair
any damage pretty easily. It is also very gratifying to see the responses
of fellow boaters who admire it. | 
