>> Do you have any personal experience or thoughts on the turning ability of
: baidarka designs? It is interesting to see on-water photos of the North
: Star, for instance, with its apparent rocker at the bow.

Rob's baidarkas all seem to have a lot of bow rocker, which, when submerged, makes the waterline the same as the overall length, and, in flat water, a lot shorter. I regularly paddle my Shooting Star on dead-flat lakes and in rough water (SF Bay and Tahoe east shore after the 2:00 pm wind arrives and kicks up 1-2 foot short steep, whitecapped waves--complicated by overlapping motor boat wakes). On flat water, a couple of feet of the boat is out of the water (photo), and the boat splashes some, having presented sort of a spoon-bottom shape to the water. It's still fast, but splashy vs. my wife's Storm SLT, which hardly disturbs the water at all. In rough water, everything changes, and the boat becomes the surfboard you sit in: very easy to handle, no problem turning through the wind, not scary--and remarkably dry, especially for such a low-slung boat. It's very fast and easy to work in rough water, and more length is wet more often. The flared lifting section in front really seems to work, and the bow rises easily. I haven't had a serious pearling incident yet, knock wood. It's just a great interpretation of the big-water boats the Aleuts were apparently going after when they developed the type in the first place.

Bottom line: there are waterlines and then there are waterlines.

--S

Oh, and the boat is easy turn when edged, as are most well-rockered boats. Just spins around. Set it back up straight and the tracking is excellent, with the long waterline.