I have finished Pygmy Arctic Tern 17 and overall am quite happy with it's performance. Its a solid, spacious, floatable and stable boat perfect for extended touring and rough weather. One thing I found missing is ... speed. I tend to use the AT mostly for workouts where the top speed that can be sustained over 8-12 miles is ~5.5-6 MPH. I guess this is the hull speed, and trying go faster produces little extra speed with monumental increase in effort.

I would like a boat that will be similar to AT as far as overall buoyancy, stability, wave handling etc. but faster.

The top contenders as of now are:
1. Guillemot S&G Night Heron
2. Pygmy Osprey HP
3. CLC West River 18

I wonder if someone had experience building and especially paddling these boats and what are your impressions.

-Tom