I want a responsive boat so I can play with it! 
Iām not sure what you said about lakesā¦
Paddling conditions in our lakes can be treacherous quite often. Weather in the mountains is unpredictable. A beautiful sunny day can turn into a wind storm with rain, cold and waves. And the water is ice cold. Most of the time, Iām the only paddlerā¦ if something happens, thereās no cellphone signal
OP, I donāt think Delta 15 belongs on your list. I would vote for Arrow Play. However, not sure if you would fit in LV, I hear they are very tight. MV probably, but you would know the second you sit in LV or MV.
I personally own an HV, and I am only 5ā6" 160 lb-ish. With some padding I have no particular complains with either rolling or going the distance, so it works well as a do-everything boat for me.
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Just want to say that Zegul Arrow Play is a fast hull while being in a play boat category. Unlike true 4x4 boats like P&H Delphin. I own both. Another thing is that your speed in a given boat depends on things like fit/stability and individual boat characteristics. For example while 15.5 Delphin is wider and shorter than the Arrow, heavier on the stroke than the Arrow, itās easier to keep straight because it is easy to correct and more wind neutral. In conditions I find that advantageous. In the calm/flat probably less so.
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All of this and I am as confused now as when this thread started.
There are fast boat, rodeo boats, surf boats, and a bunch of others. Nowhere in there is a performance boat. The performance of a paddle craft depends on the paddler, not on the boat.
Someone can tell you that a certain boat surfs well, but it might not happen for you.
Pick a boat you are slightly unsure of, you will grow into it.
Stable, and fast boats, like the Epic 18, Westside EFT, and such would be great because your day trips will cover a lot more mileage.
Three of my boats are over 19 feet and they are incredibly efficient to paddle, turn well and track well when I want them to. I have spent a few years getting to this point, though, and might not be as easy to handle at first, Practice gets you closer to perfect.
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so why the Delta ranks at the top 10 in every list?
and has rave reviews more than any other boat? And serious reviews.
and it costs half than any other boat in the category. and itās the only boat I can buy in Calgaryā¦ to check out the Zegul, Iāll have to fly to Toronto, rent a carā¦ so it will cost 3 times than the Deltaā¦
My only concern is that it comes with a rudder 
Iām curious what you do not like about rudders. Have you ever used one?
Personally I prefer skegs, but thatās only because Iāve never used a rudder. So I wouldnāt rule one out before trying one.
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An old friend of mine, who has a tour company in New Brunswick, has used Delta kayaks, so to me, that means they must be a pretty good kayak.
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Iām just joking. Itās a personal preference. But Iām yet to see a performance / play boat with a rudder. My instructor thinks a skeg is better because it gives you more maneuverability when deployed while a rudder takes it all away. Delta does give the option of a skeg, itās the Calgary dealer that doesnāt bring them in. Delta told me that people in my area prefer a rudder because, as I mentioned before, strong winds are a serious issue here.
Not the same hull at all. They are chunky touring boats. The others you listed are are Arrow - rockered, hard-chined playboat, Greenland - a tight fitting rolling boat. Very very different boats, different classes, different handling, different materials, different everything.
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Yeah even though the description says it has a lot of rocker, Iām just not seeing it as any kind of a āplay boat.ā The OP would do well to actually test out some boats to figure out what they prefer.
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I had ruddered boats. Never liked them. They donāt work in all conditions, kinda clunky in a way that you provide propulsion and steering at the same time. It may be easier at first, but people who use them tend to over-rely on them and not develop boat control skills. It kinda sounds like a good idea at first but becomes kinda blah once you start developing.
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Rudder/skeg - in some ways its two approaches to the same problem and in other ways they are for difference purposes. It sounds to me like your instructor has a strong bias.
I have a rudder on the CD Solstice GTHV but I havenāt used in years. I have paddled boats with skegs and never needed it.
To me, a sked is great if you are surfing and does help with tracking in a wind. I find a rudder much more useful for tracking in strong winds and currents.
My wife used the rudder on her boat a lot in the beginning but now that she is a more proficient paddler she rarely deploys it.
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Please direct your reservations to the original authorā¦
So just donāt use the rudder. I virtually never did on my first boat. It is not rocket science to figure this out if you are using a ruddered boat.
A rudder does usually mean a Cowboy self rescue is out. But you have not provided any useful info on details of your skills, and there are still the paddle float and heel hook version of same.
There are many good boats out there. There is no single best boat. A paddler with no real experience will cling to ratings and reviews to try and to justify a choice. An experienced paddler knows how to balance that out.
Many here have suggested more time messing around with boatsā¦
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Um, no. It was your contribution to this thread.
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The Tiderace Pace Action has a rudder.
If I recall, the Riot Brittany came with a rudder and skeg.
The Whisky 16 can be ordered with a rudder in addition to the skeg.
Thatās just off the top of my head.
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Yes. And, surfskis are long, narrow āperformanceā boats. With rudders of course.
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Surfskis and surfski-like kayaks like Epic 18x are essentially rudder-dependent hulls.
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Yes, they are. But, these are high āperformanceā boats for the more athletically inclined and adrenline junky crowd when they do open water, long distance down swell surfing.
Again, we get back to the need to define āperformanceā for what context ā both in terms of the preferred venue and also the skill set of the paddler/owner.
Oh for the record, while I had no problem with paddling my 17āx18" SOF with ease, I could NOT for the life of me (it would have been that in open seas) paddle beyond 10-15ā without falling over and out of a racing surfski that some racer let me try. Quite a humbling experience.
sing
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Depends on a ski. Unlike sea kayaks thereās a lot more skill level gradation in surfskis. So called beginner ones are easily as stable as the most stable sea kayaks and then they go up into 16-17 inch beam elite boats that take a lot of time to develop into and not everybody even capable of that progression. Anyways, itās a completely different sport.
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