I was looking out the kitchen window this morning and I realize that something was amiss on top of our 4X4 camping truck. Then I realized what it was. It was empty! Usually we have our old scratched and patched fiberglass canoe on top of it. Good luck to the person who took it because that means that now we can get a new one. Without delay, I dove into REI’s Canoe Section and almost immediately, I found exactly what I would like to invest in. It is the Old Town Penobscot 16 Canoe and I am already getting excited! What I discovered with our trusty old 17 ft canoe is that it “plows” through the water, which causes the hull to distort a bit due to the pressure of the water. Not much - but enough to make it a little slower. The 16 ft Penobscot Canoe has a V-shaped hull, which is still close to a U-shaped hull. This makes it highly controllable, like a U-shaped hull but still with the superior low resistance of the V-shape. It’s flattish keel line makes it also a fast paddler. However, the1.8 ft keel end is rockered to improve turning, a feature you don’t find on totally flat keel vessels. The hull on the Penobscot is also 100% symmetric, which makes the old-fashioned calm water solo paddling technique possible. What I mean here is that the paddler sits facing the stern, i.e. backwards and amidships far to one side, with both the bow and the stern out of the water. If you want to experiment and experience the old ways of paddling a perfect canoe, you can’t go wrong in the Old Town Penobscot 16 ft Canoe. I can hardly wait to get it in the water during our next outdoors fun adventure! Check it out.