Hobie Speed

From what I've read recently it's a level playing field between paddles and mirage drives so they must not be any faster than paddling. 

From what I've read recently it's a level playing field between paddles and mirage drives so they must not be any faster than paddling. 

I'm not speedy pedaling or paddling, but I can pedal at a moderate pace all day, and I can't come close to that when paddling.

From what I've read recently it's a level playing field between paddles and mirage drives so they must not be any faster than paddling. 

I'm not speedy pedaling or paddling, but I can pedal at a moderate pace all day, and I can't come close to that when paddling.

yeah this ..I switched due to some nerve damage with my right arm ,tried my friends Hobie Revo ..no comparison  but I still want to get another paddle boat   

I have problems with my arms and my knees my AI overcomes all that and makes the wind your friend
But if your feeling better and want to drop the sail and pontoons you'll have one of the fastest hobbies made
So I think the AI will fill your needs

Hum, fair weather is one thing...that always changes.  A watercraft's real test comes when the conditions are unplanned and very unkind.  Here on California's central coast, normal conditions include a 4-6mph Longshore Current, plus thermally driven coastal winds that peak during the hot summer months (fishing season of course).  Typically, wind generated summer swells are in excess of 5ft faces and I've windsurfed these same summer swells that had 20' faces while only about 200 yds. outside the Golden Gate Bridge.  It is also common to experience a north-to-south Longshore Current, combined with 20mph+ westerly winds and tidal actions that all combine to move one very quickly and far from one's start point.  In the summer time, I count on the afternoon winds rising to this level on 9 out of 10 days from late May to mid-September, and it happens that way.

As you can tell, I pay a lot of attention to the winds, tides, and currents all up and down the Bay and the Coast, and I am very sensitive to how those factors interact with my watercraft.  Despite having never captained a PA, when it comes to the Bay and the Ocean, I am very concerned about its weight for a human powered craft, about its wind profile, about the very high seating position, about how hard it must be to right once it is flipped, and anything above a 24" shore break -- I hope my concerns are not warranted.

For these reasons, I bought a Revo-16, and have learned how to fish with a very simplified setup and I like having less crap to deal with.  A bigger boat means more fishing crap to manage, more crap means more weight, more weight means less speed for distance and less power for swells, waves, currents, and fighting the wind.  When we head out onto the Ocean and the Bay, it's big water and obviously a self-rescue situation.  Screw up on this and one can easily die.  With my Revo, I feel like I have a surplus of power, speed, and endurance, and that is a really good feeling when I go out.

Where you want fish is also a factor for what kind of kayak you may want to get. For a longtime, I was using my Hobie Oasis tandem for all of my kayak fishing, until going fishing at Carmel Bay and Stillwater where you have to take your kayak down to the beach on steps. After busting my ass and needing 3 people to carry my kayak down to the water and also getting caught and blown into the kelp in the strong North to south onshore winds, I decided tp buy a Revo 13 and Wheeleez cart that I now use for both kayaks.
I was getting too old for all that heavy lifting. I now use my Oasis tandem for taking a friend out in places that are easy to launch and for crabbing as it has a lot of room for the traps and the Revo for all of my solo fishing.
CA Canoe and Kayak at Jack London Square in Oakland is a great place to test drive a Hobie.

Aloha,
da Bruddah

I have nothing bad to say about the PA's, but I do have an observation: I watched someone roll a PA14 upside down - definitely caused by operator technique - and they couldn't right it.