Hello All,

I wonder if you all would mind giving me the benefit of your opinions.
I am making my first kayak. It will be for my daughter. She's 12
years old, but small for her age (56 inches tall, 67 lbs.), and
although she is growing, she looks alot like her Mother and we believe
she will remain of slight stature and "lightweight."

My daughter's only kayaking experience has been with heavy plastic
boats which have been altogether too much for her to handle. She had
trouble paddling and steering them and although she had a great time
anyway, she was somewhat discouraged about not being able to keep up
with our group.

The waters in which we will be paddling are salt marsh estuaries.
There are rarely ever significant waves, but the currents can be
strong and the wind kicks up in the afternoons sometimes. None of us
in my family is an experienced kayaker; we are newbies who want to
learn more. We have borrowed and rented plastic boats in the past,
and we've all gotten by OK with them, except my littlest one, who has
struggled because, I believe, the boats have been too big and/or heavy
for her.

I have narrowed my choices to two alternative Pygmy kits: the Osprey
13 or the Arctic Tern 14. I was leaning towards the Osprey because it
is shorter (by about 12 inches) and lighter (by about 6 pounds). I
felt these were significant differences for such a small paddler.

However, I called Pygmy last week, and the gentleman with whom I spoke
steered me towards the Arctic Tern. He felt that it "handled" better
and would be much easier for my daughter to steer, etc. He felt that
this handling advantage more than compensated for the additional size
and weight.

I am now inclined to heed his advice, but I wonder if anyone can add
anything useful? If it matters: I have no boatbuilding experience but
lots of woodworking experience (furniture) and a decent shop with a
tablesaw, bandsaw etc (not that it looks like you need any of these
tools to build these kits).

Thank you all for any insights you can provide. I appreciate your
experience.

Brad