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This boat is exceptional and easily my goto ocean play boat. I am a very medium-size person at 5’9” 170 pounds and with size 9 feet. The fit is nice and snug, quite adjustable, the boat feels sporty and connected to me. It has decent tracking for 14ft, excellent maneuverability, and works just as well for a new kayaker as it does for an intermediate and expert. This has easily become my go to boat for surfing, tide races, and rock gardening. It covers miles much more easily than a short boat and is very maneuverable when you put it on edge. I’ve heard people say that this is not a good boat for surfing but I’m not sure what they’re talking about. If what you’re looking for is a long boat for strait line rides to the beach your in busines. If you’re looking for a short boat that you can do bottom turns in you should be looking at a surf kayak or river boat.

My girlfriend is a new paddler who is significantly lighter than me. She is able to use it for overnight camping and at 23” she feels confident in it in chop.

One particular thing that I like about this boat by comparison to the new Stratos is that there’s a day hatch. This adds additional flotation safety and the bulkhead behind the seat does not go deep into the day or stern hatch making it much easier to drain on top of your friends boat after doing a reentry. The skeg system is solid but like most it’ll need a little bit of cleaning sometimes out in the water, especially with rocky beaches. I always give the skeg a test after launching, if it’s not working I have my buddy run my knife along the inside of it and it’s usually functioning fine within moments.

I’ve added a few things to this boat to make it safer in rock gardens and surf zones. I’ve added two hatch straps on the front, back, and one on the day hatch. The only thing I haven’t done yet is change out my foot pegs for a foot plate. I suspect I’ll be doing that this winter.

I also added a p70 compass because in the Bay Area you always have to be prepared for fog. The compass was a breeze to mount and works well with the boat.

It was easy to create screw caps for the compass and hatch straps. The hardware store always had something that I could cover them with, add glue and whala no sharp points.

Here’s where this boat struggles a bit. The bulkheads needed regluing after a season. It’s been great since I cleaned it and applied lexel (translucent). Also the hatches are like most roto boats only soo good at keeping water out. Expect a cup to a quart after a dynamic day out. The hatch straps and bulkhead repair have made that more like a cup.