Actually, tracking is how much a boat resists turning from a paddle stroke (or other perturbation) Often you folks talk about stability. It is understood that you are reffering to roll stability, but in the truest sense stability is an incomplete term used alone. Tracking is Yaw stability. I haven't haerd any mention of pitch stability (fore and aft rocking), and am wondering if it is a concern.

> Designers define
> tracking as how much or how little a kayak turns from a single paddle
> stroke on one side.

One thing that everyone seems to miss is inherent ability. It takes alot of balance to sit on a six foot long surfboard while waiting for waves. It takes practice, but eventually it becomes second nature. It looks easy, but if you think so, go try it (I can loan you my old 5'8" thruster). I figure once I get a day on the water, normal operation of a kayak should be natural. But I expect to spend some time learning efficient paddling, and self rescue / specialty techniques. I do intend to take some lessons to avoid acquiring bad habits.

I guess my point is that not everyone will learn at the same rate, nor will they need to go to the same lengths to maintain skills. People are different (I'm more different than most).

> You can learn to paddle an 8' whitewater boat with no rudder
> straight in 2 easy days (the secret is to not overpower the boat).
> The question is how much are you going to use your boat. To maintain
> that paddling skill requires paddling once a week. If you cannot paddle
> once a week, take the good tracking boat with a rudder and a paddling
> buddy with a boat of the same length.