[Paddlewise] What is rough weather performance?

K. Whilden wrote (in another context):
>The Coho is one of the
>smoothest rough water boats I have ever paddled, and I expect the Tern
>will be similar. I also expect the Tern to have better performance while
>surfing wind waves and to hold an edge better in following seas. The hard
>edge will probably make it less forgiving than the Coho, but probably not
>significant for a good paddler. IMO performance is more important than
>forgiveness, and in general a twitchier boat only feels twitchy for a
>short while until skills grow to accomodate the boat.

What exactly do you mean by performance of a sea kayak in following seas?
Is it  just  speed down weather?  If so, how would you measure it?  Isn't
ease of handling while surfing wind waves the same thing as "forgiveness"?
When you say that the Coho is smooth in rough water, isn't it forgiveness
you are talking about, and isn't that good?  Is there any advantage to
twitchiness per se?  Could you not have both good and poor performing
twitchy boats?

Seeking kayak wisdom.

Jerry




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