Yer right, EBarnacle. I tend to forget about those narrow Greenland kayaks, for instance. All of our kayaks have been much beamier than the typical ocean kayak.
While I have done a whole lot of kayaking in my life, it has nearly all been either in protected waters--i.e. Florida Bay, the sounds and estuaries along the NC coast, lakes, or rivers that are more flatwater than not. Most of the time, in those types of water, a kayak requires less skill than a canoe to keep from swamping or capsizing. And when we have been caught in nor'easters that blew up unexpectedly, we would most likely have drowned if we had been in canoes, regardless of skill. But serious whitewater, off-shore, or coasts such as the Pacific Northwest definitely require a significant level of skill, not to mention a different boat than any of the kayaks we have owned.