: Allen, more descriptions,,that kayak keeps interesting me,,do you have any
: boats to compare it too?
Lee
I have paddled a few other kayaks and canoes, but no other sea kayaks and I guess some of the model names won't mean much outside Australia.
The Night Heron is much more stable, but not quite as fast as a TK1 Sabre, even though the Sabre is wider (for the very small part of its length needed to meet the international specs for a TK1).
It feels about as stable and fast as an old Touring kayak I built in 1974 called a French Tourer. It is the sort of touring kayak that is big enough to take a weekend's camping gear.
It is not as fast as a C2, but is more stable. It doesn't have the stability of an old Canadian canoe I made in 1977, but is faster. It would probably be similar in speed and stability to the modern TC2s built for competition.
As an indication of my level of skill, I have been paddling since 1974, usually competing in marathon events in a TK1, TC2 or C2, including twice completing a 100 mile race, 4 times completing a 111km overnight race and dozens of others between 14 and 90km.
In spite of all that experience, my attempt a couple of years ago to master a K1 sprint kayak ended with me admitting that I just wasn't good enough. I seldom managed more than an hour paddling without tipping out. So I am not some hotshot paddler who would feel safe in any kayak in any conditions.
I hope this helps put my earlier comments about the handling of the Night Heron into perspective. I know that I would have felt much less nervous during the bulding process when I saw how narrow the Night Heron was if I could have read comments from someone who had paddled it and some other craft that I could compare it to.
Allan