Impression of the Qajariaq (Valley)

Mostly I try to find out what a specific seakayak is meant for first. I discovered that Valley does not write much about the Qajariaq.
Quote from Valley's website:

It was my intention to paddle Leo's Etain today. Because I couldn't find her, I took Leo's Qajariaq instead for a first impression: on inland lakes (Beulaker) in a 5 bft. SW-wind. I paddled approx. 30 km with her on lakes and rivers.

On the lake I paddled 30-50 cm waves. The Qajariaq nicely cuts the waves with her sharp bow, without producing too much spray. It is a surprising experience: the more disturbed the waves are the more lively the kayak behaved. In fact she danced over the waves. Because the kayak is very manoeuvrable it is easy to keep course in waves or to change direction.

In waves I best liked it not to use retractable skeg although you should stay alert than in keeping course. When you drop the retractable skeg, while paddling in waves, it functioned well but I got the feeling that, when a wave passes from aside/behind, this affected her course thus making it necessary to correct your course. This was more laborious than correcting the course without the skeg: by using sweepstrokes and edging. The kayak responds very well to edging.

Paddling in wind and low waves the kayak weathercocks significant but this can be trimmed perfectly with the retractable skeg: In fact you cover the whole range between weather-cocking and lee-cocking with the skeg.
And because the kayak is very manoeuvrable it is also easy not to us the skeg.

Regarding the stability, my opinion is that initial- and secundair-stability are moderate. It is no problem to paddle the Qajariaq in the conditions of today, but my first impression is that the kayak is best suited for experienced paddlers. Probably advanced beginners could manage well and learn and progress a lot as long as they avoid too advanced sea-conditions to begin with.

I did not look detailed at the achieved speed yet, but the kayak is certainly not slow. May be a bit above average.

The cockpit was comfortable with good grip on the thighs.

Finally I would like to say that I am pleased with the elegant lines of this kayak.