What ever stain you use test it first. One thing to consider in staining the side of the kayak is how it will look in the water. Dark water can make spectacular dark wood look like mud. I have a canoe that looks great on land but not in the water. I think the shade of brown becomes critical. You may want to clip the Tern picture of the Pygmy page and paint it in a photo editor. That said you should look at the King on the Redfish home page and the Solace on the Watersdancing home page. They are great examples of dark wood on the side and on the top.