Designer John Harris in his blog "The Life of Boats" writes the following: ". Madness wasn't designed for offshore work. It's not a structural thing---I fully expect Madness to be durable in nasty coastal conditions, which can of course rival anything found at sea. The issue is that the boat is quite low-slung and light and pretty wet in waves. Unless you're a French singlehander, a week of gale conditions would probably kill you." I'd say unless you're familiar with such pastimes I.e getting stuck at sea for an extra week in a 28" wide canoe, it would make sense to take his comments very seriously. Compared to, for example Bieker/Brown's "offshore proa" Madness is much lower, narrower, and probably wetter in adverse conditions.