Dave,

After building 6 to Tom's boats I have finally wised up and I'm following your lead in raising the front edge of the cockpit.
I find that for most people they need more room to get into the boat gracefully and more so they need more room for raising their knees for comfort on the water after a short time in the boat.
Nice looking, but don't the extended overhangs interfere with poking around confined creeks? Looks like the boat is really much smaller effectively than it appears.

All the fit, young, hardcore paddlers will probably disagree with me, but that is not who I know.