: Although, the wood boat was easier to paddle over the long haul. I suppose if
: I knew I'd always be landing/launching from harbors or on sandy beaches,
: the wood boat would be my preference.

Since I'm 600 miles inland, I don't worry so much about wood--not that I have sandy beaches to land on--I just don't have surf pushing me into the beach.

: So, what about the skeg? I like it down for touring and up for launches and
: landings. Once I forgot to pull the skeg up during a surf landing (only
: slightly deployed) and the boat started to broach slightly. At that point,
: its too late to pull up the skeg (too much force and boat speed) and
: almost impossible to do any correcting stroke beacuse the tracking is so
: good. Now, I play in the surf with this plastic baby, but always with the
: skeg up.

I've only ever paddled the Eddyline Night Hawk with a skeg, and was favorably impressed--I think I might have to incorporate one into my Guilllemot.

: Thank you for not beating me up for using plastic. Your a true builder in
: knowing how important it is to use the right tool for the job at hand.

Heh! I'm definitely not opposed to plastic--I know it's not as nice looking as wood, but it's certainly more abrasion-resistant!

: I think Nick hit a good balance between tracking and maneuverabity with the
: "Coastal" requiring no skeg or rudder.

I've never paddled one--have you paddled the Guillemot--notice any difference with the bow/stern concavities?

: Take care jim gabriel (skeg lover, rudder hater). I paddled the CD Extreme recently---the rudder was the only thing I disliked about the boat; I think it would really benefit from a skeg.

: p.s. Have you seen Duane's website at
: http://members.aol.com/pirateseakayaker/ Yeah, I like his hip-snap exercise--I've been practicing it lately, and it does help my rolls. By the way, you guys have some gorgeous skin on frame boats.

Shawn