: Thanks for the responses so far.

: Happily my aunt *is* an athlete (rows very successfully, and teaches Physical
: Education for a living). She was trying to roll last year and has probably
: learnt by now. She's paddled old kayaks on and off for ages, including
: boats which don't track at all.

: So expecting to need the skeg down for going any distance is OK. But I would
: like it to track just a little even with the skeg up, so I'll look into
: reducing the rocker a little. Not sure what to do at the stern if I do
: that though: a transom ending under water would definitely be a no-no. And
: I've grown attached to that transom now ;-)

: I take the point about it being slow. She says that's OK, but it might get
: frustrating when we paddle together.

: Hmm, compromises, compromises...

Hi David,

Just had a thought, my kayak with the transom and this design too are symmetrical designs with the widest point near the center of the boat. Just had the thought, that if the boat were more swedeform, with the widest point towards the stern of the boat the transom might work better. I'd make a model first if it were me to try and see if that worked before I commited to the full size boat.

Bill H.