The Guillemot is somewhat "loose" - once it starts turning it wants to keep turning. The common response when it does this is to try to paddle hard on the otherside to overcome this tendancy. This usually doesn't work, and when it does it sends the boat spinning the other direction.

Before you cut a hole try adjusting your stroke and adding a slight lean to your steering stroke. You will need to pay a little attention to how the boat is moving. When you feel the boat turning off, you need to correct it before at has gone into a serious skid. Your steering stroke will have the most effect at the very end. Sweep your paddle out wide. As you finish your stroke, rotate your body around and pull the paddle in towards the stern of the boat. As you sweep lift your opposite knee to lean the boat towards the side you are paddling on. It does not take much of a lean to stop the skid - 5 degrees or so is plenty.

With a little bit of practice you will get the boat to go staight in all conditions. The hardest will be flat water in a high wind. The boat is easier to handle in waves. The stroke I describe above sounds complicated, but when you feel how it works, you soon do it without thinking.

The advantage of this performance, in my opinion, is turning becomes second nature. A tiny extra pull, or a little lean will send you on a new course. If you can see a wave you want to take on the bow, you can turn, deal with it, and turn back on course again with a minimum of effort. The trade off, is you need to pay a little more attention to keep going straight.

The benefit of a skeg, is you can get the best of both worlds. You can get straight "hard" tracking with the skeg deployed, or you can get the more responsive feel with the skeg retracted. Personally, I prefer the control I get without a skeg, while it is a little harder to go straight, it is a lot easier to turn.

The other thing to try before cutting a hole, is to shift your weight backwards a little. Also, when carrying gear, make sure you load stuff in back before you put stuff in front. Moving the CG backwards will make it easier to keep the boat going straight.

> My G has been seaworthy for 2 weeks now, and I've had it out in high wind,
> variable wind and no wind at all. It weathercocks in any puff of breeze.
> It also has some interesting turning habits. It seems to rotate around a
> point about 4 feet behind the bow, and about 20 feet abeam the boat. Once
> the turn begins, it feels like the bow tracks but the stern
> "skids". It feels like a car oversteering, with the radius of
> the turn decreasing and the back end all hung out. It doesn't seem to
> matter much whether it's a flat turn or a carved one. Is this common? It
> seems like this could be a real problem in following seas or when surfing.
> It's hard to carry any speed when every second or third stoke has to be a
> sweep. Intuition says it needs a skeg, but I'd like to hear from other G
> paddlers before chopping holes in the hull. TIA, Pete.