Hi Rhed,

Thanks to you and everyone else for the great info so far. This message board is a lot of help to us beginners. I suppose I sort of knew about a "slow" boat giving just as good a workout as a "fast" boat. It just depends on how hard you work, right? I guess what I was getting at was that I was hoping all that work would be rewarded with the maximum amount of speed for my effort. It would seem then that a faster boat (cruising speed or top speed- still not sure which) would be what I am looking for. BUT my problem seems to be that kayaks with faster top speeds, correct me if I’m wrong, tend to be less stable than boats with faster cruising speeds. I would imagine that since I’m just starting out I would want to avoid building a kayak with less stability than my yet unbalanced body can control. But, as someone pointed out, It looks like the fit of the boat is pretty important as well. As of now, I seem to be heading towards the Waters Dancing Solace 16XL. It looks to be a good compromise in the speed and stability area and has lots of bells and whistles for the price. I suppose if it turns out not to be the boat for me, I could always sell it on ebay for a tidy profit and start over. I guess building is part of the fun of this hobby anyways.

My main pastime is cycling. Lots of thigh and glute work there. I nearly always use my Polar heart rate monitor when I ride, so I have a pretty good idea of exactly how hard my body is working. I've found that perceived effort and actual effort are not always the same even for a somewhat experienced rider. Last night I rode pretty hard for two hours. The first hour was spent with my heart rate mostly around 145-150 bpm and the second hour as close to 170 as I could manage. I don’t ride that hard all the time, but every once in a while it’s good to open it up and see what you can do. I’m really looking forward to seeing what kayaking can do for my upper body. Most cyclists are pretty puny on top. I think I’ve got quite a bit more weight to loose before I worry about being too puny though.

Thanks again for the great info,
Ken