: LOL I didn't exactly finish my thought. Just curious how much
: stability are you willing to give up for speed? Just hoping to
: stir up some discussion.

: I was trying to decide which version of the boat I want to go with.
: With my skill set I still lean toward stability over speed. But
: I paddle flat water so I don't have to deal with ocean waves
: either. So my needs are different.

: I have that 19 or 20" wide boat and I could paddle it but I
: just didn't enjoy it except for a short period of time. I didn't
: see the slight bit of speed was worth the extra effort it took
: me to keep it upright.

I like skinny boats, specially on flat water, though very generally narrow boats behave better in rough water than wide ones. In flat water you're not spending time bracing to keep it upright so width doesn't matter much. Have to get used to counting on secondary stability and not primary stability. What the stability is like when you first sit in the boat means little, it'll increase in stability with speed anyway and if you have to lean 30 or 40 degrees before it loses secondary stability then that's not something you'll do by mistake. I've got a 19" wide boat and it's secondary stability is actually higher than the wider boats. Sure it's twitchy standing still, how often do you sit in a skinny boat standing still? It's also much faster.

Btw, this takes practice, you have to spend time in progressively narrower boats to appreciate how they feel. Most people can't just go from a 22" or 23" boat to a 18" or 19" boat and feel comfy. I definately remember buying my Current Design Sirroco many years ago and thinking that I had made a huge mistake buying such a tippy boat, now that boat feels like I'm in a barge it's so stable (sold it 3 years ago, felt like I could sleep in the thing), the Sirocco is 23" btw. This past week I tried a friend's new Anas Acuta (20") and it felt very stable and alot of fun, but also seems wide for some reason. It's all what you get used to.

Bill H.