My 13' MillCreek cut water for the first time last night. It's just about everything I wanted it to be.

Not as much initial stability as I expected, but a whole lot more secondary then I'd expected too. I could lean it right over until the calm water was lapping at the cockpit rim and she'd flip back upright. I even tried standing on the sides to see how it'd react. Without a hitch, she'd flip back upright. I was against the pier of course, I can't balance standing on the edge of a kayak in the middle of the river of course. No, I didn't try rolling it yet.

I'll never win a speed race with it either. But with the barest of paddle strokes it scoots along at a nice leisurely pace. That parts interesting. A very relaxed stroking gets you up to a silent wakeless slow walking speed. It just strolls along. Paddling as hard as possible produces a noisy wake, a standing bow wave, and a speed only slightly above a normal walking speed.

Tracks like a locomotive on rails. Has the inertia of one too. While it's very easy to set things in motion, it stays in motion. And stays...and stays...and stays. I *like* that! I sat there letting it drift back and forth across the river from the slight speed of half a paddle stroke. Perfect for patiently sneaking up on turtles, beaver and otter. Which I did several times last night.

The tracking is harder then I'd like, but then it does make casual paddling easier. I didn't try flipping it onto it's sides very steeply for making turns sharper. Though the little I did, did surprisingly little to help. Only about a 10-20% increase in turn result. I expected more. What the heck though, I can live with it. Used to hate taking whitewater kayaks out on large water because I'd spend most of my time attempting to correct my mistakes, and my path would look like a staggering drunk.

So after about an hour of filling the boat with my sweat (love Maryland, 90+ degrees, 90+percent humidity), I figured I should go back home. After all, sitting on the pier like my wife was doing isn't exactly exciting.

All in all, a rousing success! Looks pretty with a strip built deck. Nothing as exciting as what others have recently posted, but hey, *my* hands did this one! Where's my jr High shop teacher, want to have a word with him about flunking me for my birdhouses.

The MillCreek below isn't mine, but it's the same color! Mine looks *much* better of course! :-)