Like Dave said above, boats designed for the surf aren't very good for other uses....specifically tracking straight and fast. A few years ago, I built a North Alaska Retrieval SOF kayak, sometimes called a Recovery Kayak. The basis for the design was that the native seal hunters switched to a shorter, wider, more stable kayak when firearms started being used for hunting, rather than the harpoons. With the use of firearms, they no longer needed the stealth and speed that the longer, narrower kayaks offered, they only needed a stable kayak to go retrieve their catch. That being said, the North Alaska Retrieval design performs very well in the surf due to the extreme rocker, and it is a very stable platform. It was a fun project to build as a woodworker, but it is not a practical, comfortable design for extended paddling. I think you would be best served to look at one of Jeff's tried and true designs, any of which would be fine in the surf.....it's amazing how the SOF design and construction methods "give" as you surf over waves. The built-in flexibility of the SOF design almost feels like a shock absorption system when you are cresting waves and going down into the trough!
Because the recovery kayak is not the most efficient to paddle for longer distances, I have relocated the kayak to a permanent home hanging in my classroom....my 6th grade students love asking about it and I'm pretty sure I'm the only teacher they've ever had with kayaks hanging from the ceiling. In fact, I also have hung an old fuselage frame and I reference both boats by giving the students an analogy about "being uncovered". I tell them that when we look at each other, and see our "put-together" exteriors, that we're not letting others see our blemishes and faults that are on our insides....hence the covered kayak and the "uncovered" frame. I then go on to tell them that it is OK to let their guards down, to show their imperfections and show others that they aren't perfect. At this point, I reference the uncovered frame and show them all of the mistakes and problems with it, telling them that even though there were problems with the frame, it still operated fine in the water.
I think our digital, Instagram/Facebook/Twitter, media-centric culture is hard on pre-teens because all they see is the highlight reel that people post online...the kids end up thinking that they need to have everything perfect and all put together, and that it's not ok to show any kind of fault or weakness...or ask for help.
WOW...can you tell that school starts for me tomorrow? Sorry, I didn't mean to highjack the thread and go into a positive thinking message
-Matt