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Having owned this 14 footer for 5 years, I would recommend it for lake and currents up to class 1. It tracks extremely well and is very comfortable for up to 2 hours on my damaged back. The great flaw which dropped this review from a 10 to a 7 is the spray skirt (or rather the shape of the cockpit). Because of a swoop down on the cowling half way back to help shorter paddlers, the spray skirt will not stay on.

I purchased this kayak for my wife who wanted a quicker, easier to paddle kayak than my pelican 14 dlx. The rudder was the option my wife was looking for. As a large man of 225 lbs, I find the cockpit to small for my 34 inch legs. Because I also have back issues, I am unable to move my legs around to alleviate the discomfort. However, because of a partner canceling on a Churchill River canoe trip, I was forced to take this kayak.(please read my review on the pelican 14 dlx to find out why). This kayak tracks very well as long as the cords do not come off the groves for the rudder. The biggest fault with this expensive kayak is the cheap, uncomfortable seat(which will fall apart when being transported). For shorter legged people like my wife who only kayak up to an hour a day, this cockpit and seat will be fine, (ps. the spray skirt fits like a glove, another reason I took it on the northern trip)

I bought this inexpensive kayak for my second home near Tampa. Because I already own a pelican pursuit 14 dlx and a Necky 16 Eskia, I was looking for a large cockpit recreation kayak. The seat comfort fits in between the pelican and the necky. As the 14 has a skeg and the 16 a rudder, I did expect poorer tracking which was the case. This kayak's major problem is the hull design. The blunt nose will not plane on water, instead it plows both on fresh and salt water. Easily the slowest kayak I will likely ever paddle. (actually, as I enjoy exercise this problem does not bother me much)