Submitted: 07-07-2004 by redmond 
Tried out my new Cortez 16.5 last weekend. Did a 20 mile jaunt on a lake with many power boats and water lice (jet skis) which created a lot of confused chop. The Cortez is a very fast flat water boat. When the water is smooth, it flies. With a little bit of effort, 6-6.4 mph was possible. Cruising at 5-5.5 works very well. When the waves come up though, this boat slows way down. In any kind of waves I’d much rather have my Sirocco. Now, don’t get me wrong, the Cortez slowed down to the Sirocco’s speed, but it wasn’t as comfortable. The cockpit is excellent, very comfortable, no problems. I know why all Cortez’ come with rudders, it’s a very maneuverable, rudder dependant boat. Without the rudder deployed it will broach in a heartbeat. I have 7 kayaks and it’s the most maneuverable of all of them, except the Ocean Kayak Yahoo which is a semi-whitewater boat. For me, initial stability was very good, higher than the Sirocco. Secondary was average. The Cortez was harder to edge than the Sirocco because of the good initial, average secondary stability. From what I can see, the Cortez fills a specific purpose, to go fast on flat water, which it does very well. |