I found that in certain conditions, the Night Heron slapped a bit paddling directly into the wind. The speed. the size of the chop and the angle into the wind all affected how noisy it was.

I believe that the reason it happens has a lot to do with the design. The NH is a very stable kayak considering that it is a mere 20" wide. Design features that contribute to the stability include the fact that the bow and stern develop useful width quite close to the end. That combined with fairly hard chines and a slightly flatter bottom make the kayak slap a bit when the chop is the right size.

However, I am convinced that I am a little too light to make the NH perform at its best. At 62kg, I am probably about 10kg to 20kg too light to sit the NH down in the water where it is supposed to be.

I simply accepted that it was the price I had to pay for so much stability in a narrow kayak and the fact that I was a bit light for the design.