Hi Dale, you didn't say how much you have paddled other boats but from starting with a 12 mile voyage you must have some paddling miles in. After paddling whitewater boats everything tracks well. That is you get used to it. One thing that will really help is getting your foot pegs in and some outfitting so the boat fits you. If you ski imagine trying to controll them with your boots un laced. Much of your boat contoll comes through your legs and they have to have something to hold on to. A quick and dirty fix might be one we used on an old 14' glass solom boat the kids would paddle. I put some plastic wrap over the stern then layed on some fiberglass and set in a fin. After it all set up I peeled it off trimed the edges got rid of the plastic and then duct taped it back in place. It tracks like on rails and you can always get rid of it. We also found it was much bigger than need be and cut it down a bit after sea trials. Congradulations and enjoy that boat, Steve.