Shawn, This is very funny! You can see Duane through me! Yes, Duane and I paddle a lot together and maybe some of his plastic preaching has worn off. Actually, when Duane and I did our crossing to Catalina island, I was jealous of all the fun he was having doing seal launches and landings while I would carefully paddle my boat wood through the rocky surf.

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.

My plastic boat has a lot of rocker (a valley canoe product..Skerray) and without the retractable skeg partially down in ANY seas, the correcting strokes would kill me. Once that skeg is down, even a little, the tracking is dead on.

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.

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.

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

Take care jim gabriel (skeg lover, rudder hater).

p.s. Have you seen Duane's website at http://members.aol.com/pirateseakayaker/

: Hey Jim, Plastic? You must be one of Duane Strosaker's friends! ;) (I say
: that in good humor because he's always advocating plastic on the
: Paddlewise list) I must admit, though, while I'm a wood boat addict, that
: plastic boats certainly have their place--launchings, landings, and rock
: gardens.

: Do you feel that a more maneuverable boat is easier to paddle in an (overall)
: straight course in confused seas than a boat with lots of tracking? In my
: limited experience in larger water with my Chesapeake 17, the tracking was
: a detriment, rather than an asset, prompting the construction of a more
: maneuverable Guillemot.

: Happy Paddling, Shawn