: Tim, you're right. It's the position of your butt, or more accurately your
: Center of Gravity, that determines cockpit placement. A reasonable
: approximation (in all three axes) of your CG while seated in a kayak is
: your navel. For most of us this is probably 12-14 inches in front of the
: backrest, which in turn is a couple of inches forward of the back of the
: cockpit.

: I suspect that it's probably better to wind up with a cockpit placement that
: has you sitting a little to far back rather than too far forward. Think of
: the Aleutian baidarkas. They have very little curve to the sheer so the
: ends don't catch a lot of wind, but I'd expect they would tend towards
: leecocking and also that they would track well. Of course all that might
: change with a seal on the front deck.

Or maybe big chunks of seal meat inside the boat forward of the cockpit. A seal on top of the foredeck might create as much windage as it displaced.