A while back I built a modified version of the Sea Ranger. I called it Rocket88 after the first paddle. It felt like it would accelerate like a Rocket! Of course it has it's drawback. Like I can not put any kind of pad in for seat. Raising me up 1/2" and it's a struggle to stay upright. I found I don't like the low back, it hurts my back. And my bottom after a while too. Add to that it's low stability and I rarely paddle it. But my goal was a boat to learn to roll and it should be great for that.

Even with all the drawbacks I kept finding my thoughts going back to it and wondering how to improve it, make it more stable and not kill the performance. I played around a good bit but never found anything I really liked.

Eventually I started with a clean computer screen and typed in the name Toothpick, because it was going to be a small boat. But like me it expanded some as it got older. Last night I finally hit on a great combination. Assuming the software is not lying that is!

The stability is greatly increased (Stability factor of 88 compared to 52 on the Rocket88) with only minimal increases in resistance. Not sure how that happened but it did. It has slight less resistance that Curlew, the 15 footer I just finished and Curlew is proving to be a great cursing boat. Even though it is shorter I find I can easily keep up with most other boats on long paddles. I pay for it the rare time I sprint with someone though. Toothpick has nearly identical resistance numbers up 4.5 mph and it gets lower above that because of the extra two foot of length.

I drew it with almost 3" of rocker to try to improve turning. I am willing to sacrifice some tracking. Most of my boats track well but don't turn as easy as I would like. If this all works out anywhere near as good as it looks on the screen, I may have my ideal boat ... for now anyway.

Of course the only way to know it build it and I hope to do that soon!