: I'm starting to look at designs for a kayak for my wife. She likes
: my Night Heron well enough, but I think that another design
: might fit her better. I'm slightly intrigued by Rob Macks'
: Firestar. I'm curious if anyone has built it and paddled it
: enough to give a review, particularly in comparison to other
: designs you may have paddled.

: Speed is important, but not as important as handling. She is not as
: strong as me, so tracking is much more important for her, and at
: the same time, it's got to turn fairly well. Stability in chop-
: sometimes pretty steep chop- would be good. Wind can be an issue
: as well.

: Does anyone else have any ideas for other high performance designs?
: Is an Outer Islander too big for her? I have heard of someone
: doing a straight-up 10% reduction in size of a NH and getting
: really good results, but I'd rather work with something as
: designed. A hybrid or S&G is totally not out of the
: question.

: m

Several Shooting Stars have been built by members of this board, including me. Try a search on the boat, and you should find plenty to read and look at. I'd guess the Firestar is, as Rob says, a different boat altogether, as it's a downsized Northstar, and the NS is a large, expedition-style craft with a lot of volume. The low-volume SS is more or less a sports car. (Reminds me a lot of my Honda S2000, now that I think about it, but that's another story.) Check out the SS. Sounds like your wife would fit it well.

--S