Hi-

You might consider an Alaskan Recovery Kayak. There was an article in Oct 1998 Sea Kayaker by Robert Morris about constructing one. He also has just come out with a book- "building skin on frame kayaks" (I just ordered it from Barnes & Noble) that is supposed to have a section on Recoveries.
I just finished one and launched it last week. Twitchy little boat! I need to do a little more foam outfitting to get myself tighter in the cockpit. It's 9ft9in with a 25in beam. I don't know how mine will perform in the surf yet.
These boats were used in the surf zone to retreive seals. David Zimmerly has some info on his web site too. I originally heard about the design from the baidarka listserve. Search their archives.

Good Luck-

Jack

: Does anyone know of any designs that are available for short surf boats? I'm
: looking for something similar to a white water boat, planing hull with
: hard chines for cutting. I don't think I'd be comfortable designing a boat
: that is so different from a traditional long tracking sea kayak. The WW
: boats you see today look bizare, but turn on a dime and give you nine
: cents change. Performance like that seems to be a fuction of that bizare
: shape. I don't expect to use it on a river much, but the waves in the
: ocean would make a great playground. I believe that strip construction is
: more than up to this challenge.
: Thanks in advance.
: Paul