Matt,

My understanding is that it is a fast, straight tracking, tippy kayak. You can make it less tippy by increasing the beam, this will cause you to use more effort to maintain cruising speed, but it will still be faster and easier to paddle than most production kayaks. West Greenland designs will carve turns better. Both are very good designs, but they do behave differently. Baidarkas are better than Greenland kayaks for camping, because they have more interior room, due to the peaked deck. Baidarkas are usually faster than other kayaks of equal length. A disadvantage to skin boats is that they usually don't have bulkhead and hatches. A sea sock can help deal with this problem, but you have to remove it an reach through the cocpit to get your gear. There are too many other pros and cons to mention them all. When in doubt, build the kayak that looks the best to you, you may have to grow into it, but it will be worth it.

Mike

: Thanks for all of the answers. The book I'm speaking of is Wolfgang Brinck's
: "The Aleutian Kayak", as far as I can tell it's widely available
: (amazon.com, etc.) I have looked at David Zimmerley's web page
: (www.arctickayaks.com)and I'll certainly look into getting a copy of his
: article.

: Of course only part of my concern is the price (but as a college student it
: isn't insignificant). I really like the looks of the Aleutian kayak and of
: course the light weight is attractive.

: So how does the boat paddle? And how does it differ from more modern designs
: in terms of performance? What advantages would a more modern (or perhaps
: West Greenland) design have over it and vice-versa?