Footwear Question for Hobie Mirage Drive

For me, the advantage of easily taking my feet off the pedals outweighs the advantage of locking my feet in place. Like I said, with no cycling background I don't pull on them anyway. I doubt most do, and I won't argue that we are missing out on increased performance because I have no personal basis to come to that conclusion. And no, I don't paddle "one-handed" - there's a huge performance boost in using a proper forward stroke. 

took my straps off also.  to me straps don't make a whole lot of sense for long distance paddling. 

To actuate the pedal straps through a "pull" motion would require hip flexion.  Most of us are reclined at such an angle that the force produced by our iliopsoas/ hip flexors is negligible compared to the output of the opposing hip extension muscles.  Of course, the further you lean back, the larger the hip angle, the greater the stretch/ preload on the hip flexors.  so if you wanted to max out the "pull" force, you'd throw your seat all the way back to open up your hip angle.  But then you'd sacrifice balance, and other functionality, not to mention, looking kind of dumb.

Of course, every little bit helps in a sprint so straps might provide a competitive advantage over a short course  burst.