About the reviewer 31 year kayak veteran of rivers, oceans, sprints and anything else you can do in a kayak Test environment Rough summer conditions on SF Bay Review Not only have I paddled both I have owned both. Both are really great boats for different reasons. First let me note that I have paddled dozens of boats in my 30+ years of kayaking. I tour, race, train, watch birds, take photos and do everything else I can in a kayak. Favorites over the years have included the Westside Thunderbolt, Wilderness Systems Arctic Hawk and Seda Spirit. Again, all for different reasons. The Nemo is my current boat of choice for sea kayak racing. I raced the Epic 18X Ultra for 2 years and recently sold it. At 145 pounds I never felt like I could get enough of it in the water. The Nemo is exactly as fast for me over any given course at any given heart rate but with a heck of a lot more stability. I think if I weighed 200 pounds this would not have been an issue but I often felt like a cork adrift on the sea in the Epic....