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I consider myself a novice/intermediate paddler, and was looking for something lighter, shorter, and dryer than the Probe 12/13 I've been paddling for a few years. I found an Ovation and it accomplished all 3.

I find it to be plenty stable even for my 200+ pound weight, very maneuverable, and also very dry. The Probe would plow through waves, but the Ovation will ride over them. I haven't explored the ghost chine yet, but it seems that should enable quick turning.

Due to its length and very blunt bow and flare, it isn't a fast boat. However, I don't find it to be much slower than the Probe which is almost 2 feet longer.

The FS is a very nice solo canoe for river running with class II rapids. The boat is at home in moving water, and is fairly dry in rapids considering its sharp entry and fairly low depth. It's very good at ferrying. It seems to almost ferry itself with a slight lean.

I'm 200+ pounds and find that the boat handles better with more weight than that. A light person may find this boat to be a little too big.

The one knock on the boat is that it's not very fast which is ok on moving water, but not so great in the flats.