All of my paddling prior to kayaks was in canoes, have used and owned them since I was a kid (long time ago). Several years ago I sold my tandem Blackhawk canoe, though now wish I'd kept it. My favorite now is plastic, it's an Argosy from Wenonah is Royalex, nice for shallow rivers that material is hard to damage, not available anymore. The Argosy though handles much like a skinny kayak with lots of rocker, fun to play with, not all that fast though.

Bill H.