The Caribbean 12 FS is a joy to paddle for extended periods of time, if you are in no rush. My wife (who is 5 feet 110 lbs. and bit hyper) in her Eddyline Rio, which she loves maybe even more than me, often leaves me in her wake. But then, with the Caribbean's ample stern deck storage, I am the one carrying the 30 lb cooler. The stability of yak is excellent, tracking is very good, and the easily removable adjustable (angle of the backrest) framed seat is a very good place to be both in the yak and when using the seat to sit on the beach. I would have offered to let my wife sit in the seat while we picnicked on the beach and lightened my cooler, if she hadn't just prior to beaching the yaks left me about 100 yds behind! The yak which is very spacious (I am 6 ft. 195 lbs), is pleasure when paddling or when just sitting back, dangling your feet over the sides and enjoying the sights. I like the sit on top configuration because on really hot days, it is easy to roll off the yak into the cool water without upsetting the contents of the boat. Getting back in from the water is easy enough even for this 60 yr old plus man, but for an encounter my tender skin once had with the open ended track on the gunwales The stern ends of the tracks, which are cut at a 45 degree angle, I suppose to make it easy to slide accessories into the track, are a bit too sharp. One day, when I am not using the yak, I might grind them down just a tad bit. The only other edge on the boat I have encountered when my paddling gets sloppy and I get lazy is when my fingers have brushed up against the open sided handles. My wife had a similar encounter with the handles when I let her paddle my yak. Fortunately, I wear lightweight paddle gloves, so no harm, no foul. Plus, I forgive the open sided design of the handles because they work so good holding your paddle in place when you want a place to keep them when swimming from the boat, or just laying back in the wonderful seat watching the clouds. Other than those two minor gripes, the boat's fit and finish is spot on. It is really a beautiful boat and you are sure to get a lot of compliments , unless maybe the admirers were just flirting with me. Final comment, and one very important one, is Eddyline's customer service. Prior to buying our yaks we called Eddyline just to make sure we were going to be purchasing the perfect boats for our needs. Although I know the folks at Eddyline are slammed trying to fill orders for their boats which sell as fast as they can make them (good luck trying to get one anytime soon), I believe it was Tray (forgive me if I didn't get the name right, but if it weren't for the dirty dishes in my sink I would never remember what I just ate) who we spoke to. He spent 45 minutes answering all of our questions, even our really dumb ones. I can't help but think that when you buy an Eddyline, you are buying into a family of top notch boat builders. Call them if your dealer can't answer all your questions, and they will help make sure you get the perfect yak for you needs so you can paddle away from all the crap that is going on now days.
