: Comparing length and speed potential are common but, what I like to look at
: is the labor required to paddle a given boat.
: Paddlers, or rowers for that matter,can only generate about ¼ HP for any
: length of time and then only if they are in shape. Anyone who anticipates
: going any distance in a paddle boat should think about maximizing the
: on-water benefits and and forgetting about the rest till later.

That is good advice. No matter what hull you paddle, you need to have good strength and stamina to propel it at high speeds for long periods of time.

: Longer waterline boats, generally have more speed but also more glide which
: will pay off big if you expect to spend many hours in a day pulling on a
: paddle. When you are out on the water paddling into a 20 MPH headwind and
: you have a long way to go the last thing that will cross your mind is how
: nice it is to have a boat that fits into a closet or can be trucked around
: in the trunk of a Civic.

Do you have any source that correlates glide with waterline length? I have never heard that...

: If you notice, native people tended to build boats fairly long even tho'it
: would have been a damned sight easier to build short. They knew how to
: read the tea leaves.

Are you talking about Greenland kayaks only? - if we take into account ALL arctic kayaks, they ranged from less than 9' long for the Koryak types to 26' for some of the East Canadian types. Not all native kayakers had the same answers to what kayak works best; most if not all tailored their craft to suit local conditions and patterns of use which were rather different than what most modern paddlers encounter. There is no rule that correlates length with sea worthiness, there are too many exceptions that indicate longer kayaks are not always better, even for strong paddlers; doubly so for novice and less-strong paddlers who do not have the strength to continually push a longer hull to the speed where it sees any advantage.