To alleviate the ennui around here that people have been complaining about here is the launch of the Sheer Water.

The boat is just great. Completely different feel to the baidarkas. Much more agile. Definitely not as fast over a long haul, but actually feels faster. Very little resistance up to hull speed, no feeling of inertia, but you kind of know when more effort is pointless. Quite nice really, because one is not wasting energy getting another 5 percent speed, which one can with the longer boats which don't tell you as firmly when they have reached optimum hull speed. The day was very calm with no wind. I think it's going to be a lot of fun in rough water. Much more throw about. If I want to do a really long haul I would take one of the baidarkas, but for playing this is going to be very nice. I am currently weighing in necked at 215 lbs. There is still plenty of buoyancy, but a lot more weight may bog it down a bit. Pam at 134 lbs or so used it a few weeks ago and she found it very friendly, and quite stable enough (she is a nervous paddler), so stability seems not to be an issue. I certainly never had any sense of tenderness, although the conditions were not testing. I chose this boat as an attractive hybrid because I don't have room for two strong backs and a friend wanted to build alongside me as a sort of apprenticeship. I think we made a good choice. it is a sweet looking shape too.

Et