when the Chesapeakes followed the CapeCharles. The Cape Charles was extremely simple but with the even rocker the paddler sat at the bottom of it's waterline it could be maneuvered easily with a lean, albeit with bow burying and weathercocking but easily moved. It had some flare to the panels at the cockpit so it could roll with the water a bit,,at least until the bow dissapeared. A local paddler made his with a folded deck and increased the bow height then included a skeg. The Chesapeakes increased tracking with less rocker and reduced bow burying by shifting the cockpit aft, increasing total volume, and balanced out windage to reduce immediate weathercocking forces. But unfortunately reduced the lean to turn aspect that was normal to most kayaks to correct for weathercocking because the slab sides, and nature of the rocker ensured that the keeline presented to the water didn't change much when leaned. The long submerged chines replaced one keel with another. That's the tapered brick look.

The whole evolution was three steps forward, one step back and two steps sideways.

Of course it's the paddler that makes a boat "ok" for rough water but there's no reason a beginners boat can't have an attribute that allows them to develop skills in flat water that are transferable to rough water. It's possible to sacrifice some initial stability and mindless tracking for useful "rolling with the waves" secondary in a wide boat that is integral to lean/sweep turning. If the beginners boat doesn't do that then the beginner isn't likely to see the need to coordinate a lean with a sweep and they'll rely on paddling harder to turn. When you take that skill and that boat into rough water it's even harder to fake it with paddling harder to turn as the waves won't let you fake it.
The desire for a "stable boat in rough water" isn't contradictory but it does assume minimal skills for rough water. But as some point if stability/control is more important then looking at an eight paneled hull makes sense.