Hi John, I built a coho a year and half ago,haven't seen a Tern or Osprey HP although I did consider it when it came out. For a beginners boat I'd go with something more manueverable like the Coho. My bias with regards to straight tracking boats is that if you are a skilled paddler (with regards to the basic skill of turning a kayak) the straight tracking may be a desirable aspect just from a personal preference standpoint but it gets in the way of zipping around amongst a group of paddlers for socializing or emergency manuevers. If you weigh less than 150 lbs you may find these are big boats. Like Eric said, building time is longer than advertised since there's kind of a process of discovery going on while building, as well as a few sideline projects that get inspired by the construction. I think I must have built the only coho with 5 layers of 4oz s-glass at the bow and stern tapering from 1" to 1/4",,,,,it was late at night and I was thinking of all the things my friend likes to run into/on top of.