*cough*

Well, that lasted a few months! Then there was an arms race & I found another MY KAYAK.

Actually, I love the vela & I'm keeping it - and as long as I was paddling with people in plastic boats even if they were a couple feet longer - I was faster.

But then I started paddling with people in 18 foot kevlar racing kayaks or surfskis... And I'd be paddling all out getting to hull speed on the vela, while they were just cruising.

Then R bought a 17.5 foot fiberglass boat and my 15'8 one just wasn't quite fast enough....

So when someone mentioned they were selling their custom made nigel foster silhouette (bulkheads are moved closer for a short person to have more storage space, etc.), I kinda decided that instead of having 1 fiberglass & 1 plastic boat, I'll just have a short fiberglass boat for daytrips or fun on my own and a longer one for touring & paddling with the faster one. So away went the plastic boat and a new boat was adopted.

And... the fact that it's red just sealed the deal. I've wanted a red kayak or bike FOREVER. It's actually got pretty similar lines to the vela, so behaves in the same playful manner despite being more than 2 feet longer (it's 17'11"), it's slightly narrower, so it cuts through the water better, definitely faster, and rolled for me the first time.

So here's the new "used" one: