Hi John, I was just thinking about you guys a couple of days ago. I wish more folk could make it over here.

To answer your question, the shearwater feels a lot more compact than the baidarka, somewhat less stable, in that you can't actually fall asleep in it, but not enough to make one jittery, especially after having been in it for a couple of hours.

It is also not quite as fast at the top end, but it is very easy to get up to cruising speed, hardly any inertia. Nice if you are stopping and starting a lot. Speed is ok though, cruses easily at around 7kph or a little more.

I have had it out on a couple of 20km plus outings and found it to be generally a very pleasing boat. If my wife isn't using it I tend to jump into it myself, but then I tend to do that with whichever is the most current boat.

I am heavy 215 lb, so I'm not sure that it would be ideal with another 50 lb of camping gear inside, but for day and weekending it is about perfect. For Pam it would be about perfect for a bit of extended camping.

I guess she is a fairly classic style and feel of a Greenland boat, but without being extreme in any way.

I am actually a bit sorry that I don't have two of these (the second one belongs to a friend). It is boat that kinda suits everyone (apart from real fatties) and yet has a bit of performance potential.

I tried it out in some small beach breakers and it picks up a small wave very nicely and keeps its nose up. I don't know about big waves yet.

I have not really had the opportunity yet to try the skeg. The conditions so far have been benign. No tracking problems at all in any direction in gentle-ish conditions.

I have decided to put a skeg in any boat I build from now on. I get lazier in some ways as I get older.

The problem is there are so many seemingly great designs available these days. I am embarrassed to admit that I have not yet built a Nick Schade design, or a Redfish, or a Thomasson. I intend to redress these serious omissions in the fullness of time, the wife allowing. So I am always offering opinions from a limited viewpoint. That said, I like this little Shearwater17 a lot. The petrel play looks nice too though.

I say it is little, because most of my other boats are biggish, but it is still quite big enough. I wouldn't bother going for the 14 or sixteen though. The 17 is probably the optimum size for this design.

Back to the question: it feels very different to the baidarka. One is sitting in the bigger boat, whereas one is more wearing this one. A loose fit though.

Build the boat. You know you want to.

Best wishes John. I am glad we were able to share a day together.

Et