My wife and I are moderately-experienced day-kayakers, having paddled singles and tandems on lakes, on Long Island Sound as well as on the lower Hudson. We recently purchased a Northstar, assuming an upgrade from a year-old Perception Carolina II. Well, storage, seating, and the quality of the bulkheads are certainly upgrades. Unfortunately, handling is not. With two paddlers–-the prime reason one elects a tandem–-this otherwise-handsome craft simply cannot track a straight line without using a rudder; it does track in reverse, if that’s important to you. While a foot longer than the craft it replaced, it is no faster. Its weight of approximately 95 lbs, plus rudder makes it a risky proposition for car-topping unless two very strong people are involved.
