After six weeks of building a Queen Charlotte 17, I launched it with my buddies from the Southern California Kayak Builders Club, Jim Gabriel and Rick Rubio. What a kayak! I can't imagine a better designed hull. It is stable yet easy to put up on an edge. It is reasonably fast and tracts great, yet it carves sharpe turns on an edge. Despite the wide and flat deck, which looks like an aircraft carrier, it rolls easy, because once the boat is just over halfway upright, the flared sides make the boat slide right under me. Extreme bracing is no problem either. The boat loves chop, and despite the huge bow, I haven't experienced any weather cocking yet. The hull is so well designed that it doesn't need a rudder or even a skeg. It's a great all around kayak and workhorse, and it weighs only 38 pounds. My hat goes off to the designer, John Lockwood.