The demo days were held at a small quarry lake in NW Austin.
WS Tsunami 140: this is not a fishing boat, it's a sit-in kayak whose weight limit is too small for me, the cockpit opening is too small for old, fat, inflexible me to get in and out of but out on the water this kayak ROCKS, it was my favorite of the day. It turns well for it's size, tracks great, is plenty stable and just out ran the kayaks I paddled against. (Maybe if they'd known it was a contest it might have been different.) This is a good boat for covering some distance and having a great time doing it.
WS Tarpon 160: This boat never seems as fast to me as it should be but boy does it track. Turning around on the other hand takes a while and some pretty good effort.
X-13: Hey I sure like this one. Primary stability is a bit lower than I'm used to but secondary seems great and this boat moves easily.
Native Ultimate 14.5 Solo: What a seat, it's like a good lawn chair and the foot rests are just as good. It felt slower than I expected but you sit higher off the water and the lower you sit the faster a given speed feels.
Hobie Tri-hull thingie with sail. When there was wind this is great, but a quarry in Austin isn't a good place for this boat. Bays at the coast would be great. It seemed like a lot of hassle to pedal when there was no wind.
X-Factor: Dry, this boat is dry, the one I paddled didn't have a seat but it's still dry. Sitting sideways on the cockpit hatch is just great, very comfortable and stable. The front hatch is huge and you can slide forward and get to it. The X tracks very well and turns very well too. Speed was better than I expected, paddle at medium power and it moves pretty darned well. Full power probably wouldn't increase the speed a lot but that's not what this boat is about. For what it IS about it's a fantastic boat.
Native's pedal kayak seemed to be pretty fast, I didn't get to pedal it though.
