@Overstreet i wasn’t saying that hard chines were invented by paddlers, they far predate recreational kayaking. It’s the terminology- yes your sailboat had a chine, as many do (Sunfish, Snipe, Star etc etc). But no one calls a sailboat without a chine “soft chined”- the hull either has a (hard) chine or it doesn’t.
I’d love a NDK Triton for the speed. I’d buy one but really nobody to take the other seat.
Thanks, I plan to do both; get the soft-chined NDK Explorer and practice the skills I know I need - edging, leaning, bracing, skulling, and the roll.
The question was for Celia. She said she had both a soft and hard chined kayak, see quote below, but one was more maneuverable.
PaddleDog52, Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced are all relative terms.
I would call anyone who can paddle in two foot seas with 20 to 25 knot winds, GOD! Ha, ha!
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Then Boreal Design had to get all Canadian Crazy and throw out some reverse hard chines… 
After reading everyone’s comments, a couple of times, I realize better skills, and knowing my water conditions limits, will go a long way. The 'new to me" NDK Explorer, although not “the” answer to not capsizing in rough water, will be a nice addition.
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More is better!
I can relate. Since last November , I’ve been out three times. I also acquired a boat that is a bit out of my league so I know how you feel.
Chines? I’ll check but It appears not to have any. I suspect it isn’t twitchy but I feel like I am one twitch away from wet.
That is a real maybe, and the reason has absolutely nothing to do with how each boat is chined.
The softer chined boat is the Romany, which is highly rockered and has the seat set behind middle of the boat. And like the Explorer a loose bow, just looser than its longer son. (The Romany came first.) The hard chined boat is a Vela, which is about 9 inches shorter with a deep bow and disappearing stern.
The Romany slides around a little more smoothly in waves because of that loose bow, but the Vela will spin on a dime on that chine. Saying either is not a quite manuverable boat would be unfair to them.
The Vela knocks around hard from side to side in haystacks high enough I can’t always see over the top of. The first time I was in that it was clearly important to maintain loose hips. But I did and frankly it was so much fun I spent a fair amount of time at that tide race just going back thru them multiple times because it was better than most carnival rides. After ten tries it became pretty clear I was not going to attain the standing wave that the group was supposed to be trying for at that tidal race. I was just getting more tired and the tidal flow was getting stronger. So I bounced thru the haystacks instead.
The little hard chined Vela also held an edge worthy of a WW boat making some crossings that day, and those haystacks capsized an instructor who had borrowed a Cetus. Not going to support any argument that being hard chined made her less stable.