The Night Hawk is one of the most graceful birds on the wing. Light, sleek and nimble, the Night Hawk 16 moves through the water with ease and carves turns with a slight lean. The moderate initial stability transitions to a solid secondary as you lean with no surprises in store. This kayak invites you to expand your paddling skills and rewards you for doing so. The retractable skeg expands the range of performance of the hull. Incremental deployment of the skeg will neutral the effects of wind and waves allowing you to focus on where you are going. Rigged for open water, this slim, sporty kayak can haul enough gear for a trip of several days.

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Testimonials

Martina Akeson
I absolutely LOVE my Nighthawk – we have three kayaks (only one Eddyline) and once in a while I take friends out for a paddle and I always put novice friends in the Nighthawk because of its stability, amazing maneuverability, and overall comfort – and it just goes so fast with very little effort, so anyone can keep up with the group. It’s just a fabulous kayak and when anyone asks me what kayak I recommend, I always tell then to get a Nighthawk.

Martina Akeson, Portland, OR
Thank you so much for sending the deck fittings to me!  Wow!  Your company has given fabulous customer service.

I paddled my newly purchased, previously loved Nighthawk 16 for the first time this weekend and I absolutely love it.  I felt stable in it while I was watching osprey dive for fish, yet I was able to quickly catch up with the rest of my group after the bald eagles made me stop and watch.  My kayak maneuvers nicely and is very forgiving of my poor paddling skills (it was only my third time out on a kayak).  I was happy to recommend it to anyone on the beach who asked about it. Thank you again for being so nice and for making such a great kayak.

Lori O’Neal, Melbourne Florida
I have been kayaking for only a year. But I realized that I love it, and wanted more out of a boat. After paddling a friend’s older Eddyline, I quickly realized that this was a quality boat.So, I began researching and settled on a Fathom. Sadly, no one in Central Florida had one to try, and I chose to try the Merlin and the Nighthawk. It was love at first paddle with the Nighthawk. The boat is forgiving (my lack of experience) and at the same time gives a level of performance that I don’t believe I will outgrow. Since buying boat, I have been on several multi day kayak trips, including a 5 day Everglades trip. On the last day of the trip, under a small craft advisory, the boat saved me. While others were barely able to make headway in the winds and surf, I made the 7 hour trip (covering only 6 miles) with ease. One of the members, using the wrong GPS coordinates, got off track, and I was able to catch his group, get them back on course, and keep the entire group together. When everyone was at the end of their endurance, I had more to give (that was mostly due to my Nighthawk 16) I am so pleased with this boat. Thank you for staying a family business, and for making quality kayaks for people like me.

Larry – paddling.net
I love this boat. Feels more comfortable than any other boat I have paddled. Tracks great. Rolls beautifully. Plenty of room for a trip of 6 days easy. One of the best looking boats out there too. It takes plenty of abuse and does not show it. Great kayak! Rating 9 of 10.

rfree from paddling.net
I purchased a new red NH16 a few weeks ago after a few months of research on what was to be my next boat. I have owned an OT Otter and Wilderness systems Pamlico 140, so my experience up to this point has been using rec boats only. The NH16 has moderate initial stability and excellent secondary stability. Going from a rec boat to this was an adjustment for me, but after about 10 minutes on the water I became used to lower initial stability and now after around 15 hours on the boat I absolutely love how it behaves on the water. I have been learning how to make sharp turns on edge where I’m leaning so much the waterline is way up on my spray skirt and the boat shows no sign of wanting to roll over. I took it out today to a lake that I usually paddle using my Pamlico 140. I covered about three times as much ground using the NH16 in the same 3 hour timeframe due to the NH16s speed and ease of paddling. The boat really scoots across the water and glides well (again relative to what I’m used to). On Lake Michigan I found that using the drop skeg was helpful when dealing with winds and rough waters. The fit and finish on the boat are excellent and despite numerous unsuccessful attempts to roll (followed by successful wet-exits thankfully), no water has entered into either hatch. I have even learned to do paddle float re-entries using the NH16. I bought this boat because I wanted something that was faster than what I had and that would allow me to expand my abilities. This boat has met those needs and has been a blast to paddle. I love the way it paddles and the way it looks. For me, it is the perfect kayak. Rating: 10 of 10

Wavespinner – paddling.net
I never thought I’d give a 10 in a review, but this boat demands it. Unlike many sea kayaks, this is not a Greenland or British design, so it has a different feel. It’s an all-American, Pacific NW design. The first time this becomes apparent is when you hoist it to your shoulder and feel the bow tip. The seat is set back from the center of gravity. The bow is plumb, giving you more waterline and speed than the average 16′ boat will deliver. The decks are low, minimizing wind resistence and weathercocking. Attention to detail is quite evident. There are recesses for carry handles. They fit under deck lines into these recesses, so they don’t flop around. The outfitting goes beyond comfortable. While the seat back is a bit high for laying back, I’m relectant to replace it because it feels quite good underway. The boat readily leans to the edge for sharp carving. The low deck and generous thigh pads make j-leans, rolls, etc. a breeze. Storage isn’t ample, but that’s not the intent of the boat. You don’t buy a Ferrari to haul luggage. Fit and finish are exquisite. Eddyline builds a strong boat. May be the best boat I’ve ever paddled. Rating: 10 of 10

Steve Sapenzia ,Royal Oak, MI
On a recent trip to Presque Isle in the town of Alpena, MI I was able to see how my new Night hawk 16 Carbonlight handled a variety of conditions. We put in at Thomson’s Harbor with a plan to cross the North Bay over to the Light house. After leaving the protection of the shore we were heading right into a 15- 20 knot head wind. A nice chop on the water was present I found that it was easy to control the boat in these conditions, in fact it helped to keep a nice line. I used no skeg, where others were on full skeg. Others seemed to get blown off course more then me, and I kept getting called back as I was making better time. There were 13 of us that day, and I kept the lead as travel into the wind was effortless. I was loaded with maybe 15 lbs. of gear, and clothing, as well as lunch. I wondered if maybe I shouldn’t make the crossing back, but feel confident with the group of paddlers I am with. Only a few hundred yards from shore I am reminded as to why I might have wanted to sit this one out. Following seas. Wow I remember these well from one other big crossing I made when this boat was brand new. By the way I am in my 2nd year of kayaking, but nothing like this before. The wind has picked up to 25-30 knots and the waves are coming from behind us near three footers. The boat is picked up as you ride the wave, but once it has you at the peek just under the center of the boat, the wave and the wind seems to want to push you to the left or to the right as you ride down the wave then I remember what I read here about how much fun this boat is to play in surf, and that’s what I must do. I find it is better to push hard on the weak side and ride that sucker threw. I find great joy in this controlled madness, but I don’t feel confident of what I am doing. No pool classes can prepare you for this sort of paddling. I am now twenty yards from shore and there are large rocks to my front. I turn to head down the coast a short distance and right then out of the corner of my eye I see a very large wave getting ready to break right on top of me. I braced to my left very hard and that wave rolled right over me. I was sure I was going over , but I did what I was supposed to do right at the correct moment. A fellow paddler gave me thumbs up for that one I feel great about how the Night hawk responded to the conditions where others did not. I want to learn more about paddling in those conditions, and feel I have the right boat for doing it. The take out was a good 200 yards of beach to the car, and at 48 lbs., it is not a problem to carry and load solo. The 2nd day we put in on a calm river that runs through a wildlife area. It’s nice and wide, and we are headed up stream. Again I am thrilled with the speed of the night hawk. At 16 ft I keep up , if not set the pace for even the longer 18 foot boats. My NH carves well and turns on a dime. I may have a good deal to learn, and perhaps I was in over my head some, but feel I was in the right kayak for the job. Any job for that matter. I did by the way hit some rocks under the surface, and found the Carbonlight handled them all with out even a scratch. Great boat a beginner like me who stays to the inland lakes for the most part, but will grow with this boat and take on any conditions with no fear.

Mel Purvis, Bend, OR
I tried many other boats at the Alder Creek Demo Day. Eddyline handled better, faster with less effort than the others – looks sharp too!

Ed Lawson
Last weekend I went for a group paddle near Marblehead, Mass. The water got very confused with constant, steep, random direction waves of around two feet making thing a little dicey for this new paddler. Basically ugly big boat chop like stuff. The rest of the paddlers had Brit style boats and I was thinking they were easily slicing through the junk with their sharp, sweeping bows while my NH was bobbing up and down and splashing/pounding as the bow slammed down after riding up the waves. After a little while I noticed nobody was in front of me and everyone was behind me. So maybe I was just paddling hard to get through/stay upright, or it was not so easy for them or the NH was a lot more efficient at getting through the stuff than I thought. Whatever, it just keeps proving itself to me and it lets me keep improving as well.

Rick Rice Cedar Park, Texas
This is my fourth kayak. It is by far the best yet. I may not be able to do any better. Not only does it paddle great, it looks GREAT. I’m 5’8″ and 160 pounds. It is a perfect fit for me. Here is a picture of my maiden voyage. My wife took it. She didn’t have to make me smile for this shot.

Andy Henbest, Reedville, VA
The Night Hawk was very responsive – skimmed the water so quickly- and was the very best at making me feel like I was “wearing” the kayak.

Rusty McBride, Michigan
Rusty is doing a solo crossing of Lake Michigan during the second week of June 2003 to raise money for the Arthritis Foundation for Juvinile Arthritis. “I love my Night Hawk 16! So much, I thought I would do something for kids! Maore than a cause, a reason to paddle more.”

Patricia Henry, Butler PA
This is my second boat. I am so pleased with the Night Hawk 16! I can’t imagine being without one!

John McFadden Appleton, WI
I did a fair amount of research, and the Nighthawk kept coming up at or near the top of my list in every critical area. Last summer I finally got to paddle one at the Great Lakes Sea Kayak Symposium, and was soon holding a cruising speed I could never have maintained in my shorter boat. The next day I had my order in. I took off for six days in the Apostle Islands with my regular paddling partner ten days ago. We had two days of amazingly flat water, which allowed me to enjoy the Nighthawk’s ability to hold a comfortable cruising speed for hours on end. The next few days brought hot southerly winds blowing 20-25 knots, and the seas were running anywhere from one to four feet. We were taken by surprise when the waves first came up: we were seven miles from our camp, and had to make a two-mile channel crossing with the wind at our side and the seas very confused; for paddlers whose skills can generously be termed “intermediate” it was a classic Adrenaline Moment… I dropped the skeg and within 100 yards knew that the Nighthawk was more than up to the situation, so long as I did not do anything terminally stupid. .The Nighthawk had covered close to 100 miles in widely varying conditions, swallowed an amazing quantity of gear (and kept that gear almost bone dry), and left me uncramped and comfortable at the end of each day. I am, by the way, 54 years old, so finishing a trip like that one without aching muscles is a testimonial all its own….

Deborah Emig, Thomasville PA
A bad thing happened last night.: My instructor offered her NightHawk for me to try out. I was so honored! What a thrill to skim over the water with such little effort! I am requesting a catalog to dream about while “saving my pennies!” (It will give me enough time to decide on the colors!!!)

Heather Henderson, Eugene, OR
Along side other brands, it was the lightest, sturdiest and most comfortable.

Tomo and Cindy Sekiguchi, OR
This is a beautiful, responsive, playful boat. Thank you.

Rachel Goodkind, New Milford, CT
I am the proud owner of a Nighthawk. I just wanted to tell you how much I enjoy and appreciate this kayak. I’ve been kayaking for over 20 years, when years ago, boats looked like submarines. I appreciate a kayak under 50 pounds.

Gail Rehman, Yorkana, PA
“Loved my Merlin LT and couldn’t imagine anything better. But the Nighthawk is! The sleeker profile is more fun to turn, and the skeg makes it track like a much longer boat. Light weight makes loading/unloading a blast. Large hatch is easier to load for bulky gear. Carbonlite is the best material to come down the pipeline (wave, that is!)… It’s the prettiest, funnest, fastest most playful kayak I’ve tried, and I am so thrilled to own one.”

Jack Leebron, Redmond, WA
Well, it didn’t take long to know that the Nighthawk was better than anything I ever did before. I love my boat and would kill before I let anyone take it from me. Thank you for giving me back the fun I thought I lost by getting old. I now feel like I ought to be dating a teenager. Then again, at age 51, I might go to jail and then I couldn’t go out in the boat. It is a good thing that the Nighthawk is a consenting design.

Sadeeq
Hello, My name is Sadeeq. My wife and I live in the Puget Sound and have both been avid kayaker s for the past 2 years. I bought my Eddyline NightHawk about 1 year ago from Skookum Bay Outfitters in Olympia Washington. The salesman assured me that the boat would not be on that I grew out of in a couple months, which was good because I this was to be my second boat within 1 year. Since then, the boat has done nothing but bring smiles to my face. My wife owns a Canadian boat that costs over twice the price of mine, and I still pass her as if she’s standing still. Because of the Carbonlite lay-up, my boat is also significantly lighter. I can actually carry it around by myself with no trouble (I m 5 10 and 150 lbs). The NightHawk is a great tracker, and any decent paddler will have no trouble navigating with, or without, the skeg (which, by the way, works amazingly well). We were out on the Nisqually River delta yesterday and a guide from another party came over to drool. He said that he had taken another Eddyline boat out a few years back and loved it. I just wanted to say good job to everyone who was in any way responsible for creating such a fabulous boat at a reasonable price.

Steve Scherrer, Alder Creek Kayaks
Dear Tom, Thank you for letting me try out the new boat on the past weekend San Juan trip. it was a BLAST!!!! I now have a new favorite boat. In fact, In My Humble Opinion, one of the nicest boats I have ever paddled. I truly believe that you can have your cake and eat it too. All it takes is a sweet hull shape and a retractable skeg! It was amazing how well it worked. I have paddled other retrac-skeg boats before so I am familiar with skegs. The Nighthawk is going to bring the whole Falcon/Merlin concept home. We will sell a bunch, I am sure. The other clients who did get a chance to demo the NH were amazed and jazzed. We had a Merlin XT and LT on the trip too. it was like a 3 bears story. this one is too B I G, this one is too small, and this one is JUST RIGHT! The tracking/maneuverability issue was also well received. While the LT was getting great reviews, as soon as I put ‘em in the NH they were amazed. Truly a dream come true. Now for technical’s. We had a great trip with a big variety of conditions. Day 1, crossing from Guemes North beach to Cypress. mild ebb with beam south wind @ 5 k. tiny swell. no biggie, a touch of skeg, boat fully loaded, good trim. Day 2 , day trip to circumnav Sinclair Is. Maybe 30lbs of gear, balanced fore to aft. full ebb with northerly @10k. steep confused seas in the 18″ variety. I went out and played the eddyline in front of camp. YAHOO!!!!!! No skeg, surfing, bashing, green water on the deck, matey! reminds me of an even more playful Raven with an LT fit! the best of both worlds on across the channel with lots of skeg <75%> if I did 100% she fell off the wind. I call it Dial-a-course Excellent bow buoyancy. Excellent control with the bow under the water. Wind built to 15k seas to 2′ very interesting tidal race at NW corner on Sinclair. at NE corner we turned to a downwinder. many client freaked out with 2′ following seas and f***ing rudders! the ones in the LT, and XT were loving life. I, of course, was out in the biggest of the waves surfing up a storm. :))))))) LT surfs better but hey,it’s going to, being shorter. the NH is actually quite fun with it’s nose under, and it takes so little adjustment to bring it out, turn it off a touch and bring it back to surf. Do I sound thrilled? day 3, wind in camp out of the north @ 10k. we decide to go down the leeward to Cypress head. Nice easy day so I let others paddle NH. they are in love. The skeg is such an easy tool. People self discover it’s use. Put them in a due abeam wind of 5 k and you can fully explain weathercocking, tracking, skeg use in 5 minutes. I now have some SERIOUS database for my sympo rudder talk! Day 4 pack up and head back across Bellingham channel with full ebb. the current really makes this baby hum. Man I love kayaking! my impressions: great balance of stability. initial is good and tilted, edge turns are a joy. the whole Merlin family lends itself well to carved turns and confidence on edge. tracking/maneuverability right ON! Skegs are way KEWL! speed: acceptable given length. great fit. tho a bit tight for the thunder thighs, most who tried it liked the fit and comfort of the seat. Some folks complain that the backrest is a bit too rigid. I personally like a flexible backstrap. Acceptable storage space given the size of the vessel. Not quite as large as the Falcon 18. Really like the oval hatch in the stern. I can get my backpacker guitar in the back right up next to the skeg box. :) Thanks for building such sweeeeeeeeeet boats.

Jim Farrell, Bend, OR
I just took delivery of a blue nighthawk 16. I must say you did a superb job of creating an ascetically beautiful, and great performing boat. I am a designer and have a degree from School of Visual Arts in NYC and I know a piece of art when I see one.

George H. Bronxville, NY
The NightHawk….. Love it…. Light and fast, and everyone on the water always asks me about it! You rock. Great Customer service too!