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I received an e-mail on the 18th January 2006 from Andrew, who lives in New Zealand; you can read a transcript below. You will not fail to grasp Andrew's enthusiasm for Hobie sit-on-top kayaks, especially as they can be sailed when fitted with the optional sailing kit.
These canoes are all equipped with the Hobie MirageDrive, a patented device with foot-powered mobile fins that propel the canoe in a similar fashion to the fins of a fish. Speeds attained by using this device are greater than can be achieved by paddling.
I've now found a UK supplier of these fine, portable boats.
Here, I'll leave you to read Andrew's screed, just as he presented it.
I have been looking at your micro sailboats website. Veeery good !
Can I put a plug in for the Hobie kayaks, particularly the Outback and the Adventurer ? ( http://www.hobie.com )
OK so these are off the shelf plastic kayaks and they are both sit-on-tops rather than sit ins: as such they may offend kayaking purists (I regularly offend them around Auckland by achieving greater distances faster in a fat plastic sit on top at the same time as fishing/looking thru binos or what have you while thay are paddling away in their expensive sleek fibreglass sea kayaks. see below). And they are quite expensive (at least here in NZ where I live). However I have to tell you that I own an Outback and it is a sensational piece of kit.
It has several advantages, compared with 'normal' kayaks which make it rather different from all other kayaks both sit ons and sit ins. Both the outback and the adventurer come with Hobie's Mirage Drive as standard, which is an absolutely superb means of propulsion, and both come with a sailkit option.
The most important difference is the mirage drive - take a look at the website to see this in operation. The mirage drive means that the boat is pedaled rather than paddled - your legs are much stronger and it is much easier to tour with this system than with a paddle. You can go much further, faster and it really is very non-strenuous: I go all day sometimes without any pain in the legs - sometimes an aching bum which is to do with the seat which I find a bit uncomfortable (easily fixed though I have never been bothered to do so) rather than muscle stress.
The first additional benefit is that you don't get water in your lap as you do with the unavoidable drips which fall from a paddle, so in colder climes (UK) you are going to get much less wet in calm water than you would with a paddle boat. OK so if you get one over the boat you are in for a chilling = wear a wetsuit.
The second benefit is that since steering can't be achieved with a foot-controlled rudder (cos of the mirage drive) hobie have provided a hand-controlled tiller instead. This means that control of the boat is exactly the same as with a larger sailboat - sheet in one hand, tiller in the other.
The third benefit of the mirage drive is that there are fins which extand below the boat to act as a keel. I sail mine all the time in benign conditions - I never go out without the sail - and I can vouch for the fact that the fins as a keel enable you to sail the boat upwind - not particularly close to the wind, but upwind none the less (the new Adventurer model has an optional and much larger daggerboard; go figure...!)
Finally, if the wind falls away - which it often does in very light airs - on a tack or a gybe you can use the mirage drive to push you through.
Not to mention the plug in cart to wheel it around and the fact that being rotomoulded polyethylene they are indestructible (as is the mirage drive pretty much - you would need to work pretty hard/be pretty daft to break it)
The Adventurer (new model) is much sleeker, has an optional big daggerboard which I am sure will enable it to be sailed even faster and closer to the wind, and apparently there is a larger rudder and larger fins for the mirage drive coming out/available. But I repeat that the Outback sails perfectly well without the dagger, the bigger rudder and the bigger fins.
If anyone wants to find out more about these the Hobie website is an excellent resource. There is also an excellent Hobie kayaks forum on http://www.kayakfishingstuff.com which, though american & geared around its title still covers a lot about the sailing option including some real kayak sailing afficionados.
I offer this all to you because you have gone to the trouble to create your website. And in case you haven't already come across all this. And because I am just SO enthusiastic about my Hobie kayak. It really is a clever clever piece of kit - sailing it is exactly the same as sailing my 50 foot classic yacht - so much so that I have sold it. I bought another smaller sailboat but the kayak is just so easy to deploy and use and the experience is just the same only more involving that I hardly ever go out in any other sailboat !
I would also like to spread the Hobie/Mirage Drive message so that other people can have as much fun as I have had.
Kind regards,
Andy
PS I have decided to buy another Hobie - an Adventurer this time - so that my other half can enjoy the fun too. I will be relocating back to the UK later this year and both of them will be coming back with me unlike my other sailboat (a 16' trad dayboat) !
Andrew, Thank you very much for this super contribution to the Small Sailboats web site.
Bill. 26.02.06
Ian Hobie Kayak UK
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