: For me, having a light boat is all about carrying it and lifting it
: up on the roof rack.
: Once paddling, a light boat is not that important to me.
: Having fixed ballast in the boat is not very appealing, unless you
: mean 'strapped in' ballast. I think of fixed ballast in sailboat
: terms; glassed in.

Hi John,
Some racing yachts carried water ballast which could be pumped from side to side of the boat. And they all use crew weight as ballast. :)

: Were Greenland kayaks ever ballasted?

From what I've read, no. Greenland caught prey was usually seal, a bit large to fit inside a kayak :) so were towed alongside and aft of the cockpit. They hunted by stealth hence the sleek, low kayak design.
Aluet often hunted smaller sea mammals and stuffed the caught prey inside the kayak. Distances traveled were often long on very opwn waters, Pacific/Bering area.

Mike Savage
South West Cork