: Hi Bill

: Another point re downwind performance. I was out recently with a
: friend who was using my North Star, so I got to see it from the
: outside for a change.

: It may be a subtle point, but I got the definite impression that,
: when being lifted by a following sea, the boat would rise in the
: stern and then suddenly surge forward. I was in my West River
: 180, which is a very well behaved boat, but was not getting the
: same effect. Watching for a while, I came to the conclusion that
: this is a product of the fish-form nature of the NS. As the
: water builds up along the sides of the boat, the fullness
: forward seems to be compressed by the surge and spits the boat
: forward. The West River which has the fulness aft does not
: respond in this way.

: I also noted that when going upwind on flat water the bow seems to
: depress the flow of water downward and around the hull rather
: than just parting the water to either side. This seems to
: mitigate what the rocker should be doing to slow the boat and
: may account for the feeling of buoyancy. The cross section is
: also a fairly fast shape with no real flatness so this also
: helps I think.

: This said, I would say that the NS is particularly suited to rough
: conditions, a feeling of being on the water rather than in it,
: and actually feels faster in rough water than it does in flat
: conditions, especially since one can just relax and power away
: as it really looks after you.

: Et.

This is why I asked, lots of good info :)

The baidarka has a transom of sorts, it's actually very wide aft except for the "rudder". So should have lots of buoyancy aft.

Bill H.