Thank you John!

"I especially like the cutaways in the foredeck to allow for a good (high angle) paddle stroke - I hate hitting the deck with my paddle. "

Yes, good eye! That is exactly the idea behind the deck shape - well, that and I think it looks neat : )
I don't know why but 'boxy' lines have always kinda bugged me so I go for as much curvy-ness as I can
get away with...

"Did you start from a known design (in the best traditional boat-building style!) or do it all 'from scratch'?"

This could become a very long answer so I'll try to be concise. The idea for this boat was born the day I took
my first kayak out in the ocean.

I designed and built that one when I lived in Pittsburgh Pa and it was only
ever going to be used on lakes. It was great on lakes. But, on this particular day it found itself in the mouth of the
Cape Fear River. It really didn't do too badly but I took a lot of notes on what I would change if I were to do it again.
The result was more rocker, more deadrise and a raised foredeck (for a few less waves in my lap).

Another big change was in the 'behavior' of the hull chines as they ran from fore to aft. I wanted to have a
multichined feel towards the bow and a hard (single) chined feel toward the stern. This idea (but not the actual
dimensions) was taken from the Petrel design by Nick Schade (more specifically the S&G Petrel "Play" design) and although I may not have completely succeeded in this regard, I think I came kinda close. The big difference is that instead of ending the 2nd panel midship, it carries all the way through the length of the boat but in such a way that it flattens out (as much as possible) with the center or keel panel. Moving from midship to stern it cannot stay completely flat with that panel though since one of its chines (which happens to also be the most functional chine) runs up into the gunnel and it is necessary for its lower chine to then become the functional chine. If that makes any sense. Why would I do this? I dono, why not?

"What sort of balance between tracking and 'sportiness' were you aiming for?"

All in all, if this thing ends up behaving anything like a 17' version of the Petrel "Play" I'd be very very happy!
But I have a lot more paddling to do (especially loaded for camping) before I will really know what I've got.

Thanks again!

Aaron