[Paddlewise] Opinions on new boats

Anyone have experience with Wilderness Systems Tempest kayaks?

I spent a few days in Bar Harbor (Maine) last week and saw a couple of 
these boats hung from the ceiling at Cadillac Mountain Sports. Design and 
craftmanship looked beautiful. Tempest 170 and a Tempest 160... which I 
assume is code for 17 and 16 feet respectively. My wife sold boats for 
years in Anchorage AK and has always been a fan of WS. Store was too busy 
for conversation with staff, so I thought I'd bring the topic up here.

Don't mean to start two threads here, but I've been hearing that Necky is 
about to sell a 16 and 18 foot boat called the Chatham, the shorter length 
in both plastic and glass. The buzz is that the smaller boat (especially) 
promises to be popular. ("Buzz" gleened from the paddlers experimenting at 
symposia with boats seeded by Necky).

Love to hear any views...

Tom


***************************************************************************
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/
***************************************************************************