: : This is turning out an interesting new hobby.

uh oh. ...

The Night Heron is designed for handling in waves so maneuverability is part of it's characteristics. If you're sitting all the way back I could see some improvement moving forward but it's still going to be maneuverable even with a shorter paddle. Re. dangling toggles. What I did was to make a small rope ring spliced out of braided line through the hole in the ends. I used 3/16" vectran but any line will work. Basically it's small and stiff enough that it can't flop over the end. Attach your toggle to the top of the that rope ring. The toggle line is a looped piece so that it can simply be wrapped around the rope ring with the toggle going through it's own loop. That way it dangles right at the sheer but if you grab it the toggle pulls back beyond the end of the kayak if needed. It's kind of a no brainer when you see it compared to all those kayaks with the toggles dangling in the water.