Retrieval on DeSoto Ramblings

In terms of performance I thought my kayak did real well today. It's the first time I've paddled it for more than thirty minutes on a lake. There was a stiff wind from the South that created some 1 to 1.5 foot waves. It wasn't that rough but the roughest water I've been on so far. If I turned the kayak so the waves were hitting the side, the kayak felt stable. Orienting head on into the waves caused the bow to spear into the larger of them and water cascaded across the deck. I can see that more buoyancy at the bow would be a good thing for rough water conditions. I purchased a waterproof, closed cell foam, camping mat and used that for a seat pad. One layer wasn't enough so I doubled it. On the way back it scooched out of position and it didn't do its job very well. It was a definite improvement though over the last pad I tried. I think I'll try to make a seat with some minicell foam at some point.