Well, I have had the boat for a year now and I can report that I am genuinely impressed with it. It gets used mostly on the sea for day trips of a few miles, and sometimes on the Thames or Kennet.

I have been out in pretty rough conditions a couple of times (F5-6 or so) and it handles better than any short (e.g. <17ft) boat has any right to. Although the skeg does the job its designed for, I eventually found that I didn't need it as the boat behaves well in a following sea anyway, and is not continually trying to broach as most short plastic boats do. In fact it tracks well whatever direction the wind is coming from which is unusual. It is pretty good in surf too.

The Wild One is very fast for a boat of its length, and when sprinting, I can often keep up with sea kayaks over short distances. When you go from another plastic boat to the Wild One, it feels light and easy to pull through the water. I can paddle it with some semblance of a racing stroke (knees together, lots of rotation, swivelling in the seat, paddle close to the boat).

I think the nearest competitor is the ******* ****** *, I tried one of these before I bought the Wild One and was not impressed. It had a retractable skeg which was good, but it had to be used constantly to make it track properly, even in calm conditions. It had its volume mostly in the centre which meant it kept burying its bow in every wave. The ****** was more stable, but slower, heavier, too wide, and generally ponderous to paddle compared with the Wild One. The ****** is £100 more expensive, than the Wild One and then you have to buy the backrest separately and pad out the thigh braces yourself. Poor value in comparison.

The web site has an informative page describing the design that is worth reading. Unusual in that it doesn't assume the reader is a moron.

It is a boat you can take on holiday, as being a true "General Purpose" boat, you can have an enjoyable paddle it in on any kind of water, in any conditions. Its easy to transport and cheap enough that you don't have to keep worrying about it.

The boat comes ready to paddle, you just have to adjust the footrest with the large knobs (with brass inserts, unlike the small cheap plastic nuts that cold fingers cannot operate, in the ******). It is already padded out neatly. The back rest is minimal, but comfortable. The boat has many tiny but well thought out features, like small drain holes drilled in the footrest moulding.

Finally, and importantly, it is a remarkably pretty boat that looks good on the water. In my experience, boats that look good on the water usually handle well on the water, and the  Wild One is no exception.

This boat should get an award for its clever design!


Update
Hi Kev,

You might be pleased to hear that at the Poole Harbour race yesterday, Wild Ones came first and second in the Open Class (GP boats). Unfortunately it was a low entry of only five. It was a four mile course and I finished first (in my light weight, unscratched boat) in 44mins (5.4mph average) beating the next adult (a tallish fit looking bloke in a Pyranha Master) by twelve minutes. William Kelly (Sarah's son) came second. I also beat four K2's, two in div nine and two in div 7/8 - which is crazy. I think I had some help with the tide though. Someone from the winning K2 came over after the race and congratulated me on my speed! We were racing each other at first, they got ahead, but I chose a better route with less tide against me and caught them up and got on their wash for a short time. Being the only one with a light boat and using the best German racing wing paddles helped I am sure. The boat was bows up with spray coming from the front the entire time. A lady from one of the K2's approached me afterwards and asked why my boat was so fast, saying she was interested in a new GP boat for general paddling. She had a go in it was impressed by the light weight, and how it paddled, and the price of course