This first challenge was to make it whitewater friendly for everyone taking special notice to beginners looking at venturing out for the first time and for intermediate and expert paddlers desiring to camp out of their kayak. By adding additional width to the hull we achieved the stability we wanted even when loaded to the gills with camping gear. The next challenge was speed and tracking for the folks that would use it primarily on lakes and calm rivers and as we all know whitewater boats just don't want to go straight on flatwater and will tend to veer right or left. Speed was achieved by extending the length and waterline of the XP and by dropping the rocker profile slightly which allows it to really cut through the flats. Now we had to fix that nagging veer, by adding a spring loaded skeg (don't worry the spring is made from stainless steel) to the stern that annoying veer was immediately gone for good and paddling across vast sections of flatwater became a no brainer.