: I saw one in the parking lot yesterday,,,damn it looks like it would be a
: fast/easy paddling boat for a light person. Any feedback?

I am building one and it does look different and fast. I looked at your photo's also Ken Katz and I like the way you sunk the coaming all the way around instead of just the front of the cockpit. I'm not sure I know how to do that. I saved a posting of what Wes Tanaka had to say about the Shooting Star.
John
===============================================================================
Launching: Shooting Star
Date: Tuesday, 24 September 2002, at 10:40 p.m.

This weekend I launched my Shooting Star (Rob Macks' design) on the Barnegat Bay, New Jersey. Beam and quartering winds ~ 10 mph with waves 1 to 2' from wind and passing boats. Boat handled very nicely with little hint of weather cocking. This was definitely a wetter ride than the Extreme (my regular boat)with the bow burying itself on several occasions. Very responsive, but compared to the Extreme almost anything would be very responsive. This boat is going to be fun to learn how to paddle.
A few specs on the boat: I received plans for the Shooting Star in December, launched Sept 22, boat weight 40 lb, made of 1/4" thick western red cedar with pine accent strips, 5 oz tight weave fiberglass outside, 3.8 oz inside with double layers on the bottom both inside and out, RAKA 127 resin/350 hardener, front bow and minidecks made from red oak, flush hatches with magnets for hold down (I'll be adding Leidy lid hold down and flanges on front hatch, and bungie cord to back hatch), hinged day hatch, recessed front and rear coaming, coaming made from kerfed 1/4" ply, height of front and rear coaming were reduced from original plan to 11 and 9", respectively, and - no staples. If I had to do it over I would make a few changes, but overall I am very happy with the way this turned out. There are still many details to finish up on this boat so I am going to continue to enjoy the building process for several more weeks.
The photo probably doesn't show the true trim of the boat. A group of us had paddled into a protected cove to do some rolls and braces. By the time the photo was taken the hot glue holding the seat in place had come unstuck and the seat was about 3" further back from where it should have been. Even with the seat in the "correct" position the bow seems to ride fairly high in the water. This seems to be borne out from pictures on Rob's website.
Many thanks to the folks who post to this board with their suggestions and experiences - both good and bad. A special thanks to Rob for his excellent design and clearly written construction plans.
Wes