Magooch is 100% correct about the desirability of learning/knowing as much as you can about boat design, materials, rudder vs. skeg vs. neither, etc., etc. And of course it's great to be able to try out boat after boat after boat until you find the one that's just right for you..... But as a practical matter, there is no substitute whatsoever--none--for the new paddler interested in sea kayaking, to getting into a decent boat of whatever material, fish-form/swede-form, rudder, skeg, whatever--and going kayaking for weeks and weeks and months in that boat, and figuring out what it is about you, sea kayaking, and the boat, that you might want to change or improve or delete. Over my almost 30 years of paddling sea kayaks, I've had several sorts of the craft--rudder, no rudder, narrow, wide, fiberglass, wood, longer, shorter. I've enjoyed every boat I've had, because I've enjoyed sea kayaking. It's not really about the boat, though having a boat you like is good; it's about learning about open water paddling--its joys and special challenges. Once you have put in the miles in the cockpit of whatever sea kayak you start with, you'll be better equipped to fine-tune what it is you are looking for in a boat for the long haul