I'm almost there... Took advantage of EMS's (Eastern Mountain Sports) Club day to get a 20% discount on all of my gear so I picked up pretty much everything I needed. The following day I took to the water and demo'd a Wilderness Systems Pamlico 140 (to try a longer boat), a Necky Gannet (alternative to the Pungo), and then rented for the day a Wilderness Systems Pungo. The Pamlico was a little more shallow then the Pungo, but about the same as the Gannet. I had a lot of problem keeping this baby on course. I was paddling in the Annapolis harbor and there was a slight westerly wind. So much energy wasted keeping it straight, and the second I stopped it weather cocked. A skeg or a rudder might have made that better. Stability was pretty good, although I felt like I was sitting higher up above the water. The Gannet came highly recommended by a couple of sales staff that were into touring and like to play with long-ish rec boats. I decided to give it a whirl. Once again, the round bottom and lack of skeg had me correcting my course too often for my tastes. The Gannett was much flatter across the top and I felt like I sat lower in the water so weather cocking was less of a problem but still not what I was looking. Again, this is the second time, I took out the Pungo. Man what a difference, this boat does really track like it's on rails. Even when traveling almost perpendicular to the wind I hardly ever had to employ corrective actions. Stability in my opinion was much better then the other two boats. Secondary stability was excellent, being able to comfortable lean over on the side for some playboat-like turns. Just amazing! The only problem I have found with the pungo is that the top of the boat is pretty high above the water so your paddle angle has to be fairly high compared with your touring nuts in your shallow boats. Also the combing on the Pungo is pretty darn tall and once in a while when I was not paying attention I managed to scrap my knuckles against it--then again my paddling form is not perfect either. All in all I felt like there was just no comparison to the Pungo--for what I'm after. I even managed to do some fishing out of it. Over all I think I put about 5 miles of paddling in the boat 1/2 of those against the wind and current--no problem. I was able to maintain a comfortable place without killing myself. Looking forward to that eventual purchase! PS - There was another observation that I made concerning color. Due to the Volvo race going on today and the festival happening yesterday there was a lot of boat traffic in the harbor. I ran into two other guys in Pungo. One of them was in a blue boat with a black spray skirt. To be honest, unless I was looking for him I could hardly see him against the blue/green water of the harbor. In contract there was this other person with a red boat and a yellow spray skirt that stuck out like they were on fire. For those beginners out there trying to make a color decision, be safe and choose something that contracts with the water and the background. Big boats might not see you and fast little boats might run you right over--for those of you who paddling high traffic areas. *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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