Catching some good ones from the kayak

[Prof. Salt]

The offshore trip where I landed the nice Cobia on the little spinning reel featured some other nice fish coming aboard the kayak. This is the rest of the story...

[Steve-O]

Nice catches!  I'm having smoked salmon (my own teriyaki/coconut flavored) with cream cheese, fresh mango slices and avocado with lime for lunch while watching the above.

Question: how does the Raptor's split vee hull do paddling backwards? I don't mean over a long distance, just to back away from structure or other?

[Prof. Salt]

I think it's actually easier than with a longer traditional hull shape. I have even tried sitting in the surf with the nose pointing at the beach and backing up as rollers came in. It was very stable and didn't want to run sideways, but larger waves would shove me forward.

Those keels in the rear really give the boat good lateral grip, so tracking is outstanding. When you turn it pivots at the rear (most kayaks pivot in the middle). It has a slightly different feel in the chop, and when the waves are running from your left to right (of vice-versa) the wide split rear will ride over those waves differently than a skinny hull. It was a little disconcerting for me the first time, but I learned quickly to trust what the kayak wanted to do and just go with it. Even in rough conditions it has never rolled over with me on it. I got up on a wave face so steep once that I slid off the seat, but the boat righted itself immediately after I slid off. I considered a seatbelt after that, but decided against it, lol.