Pedal yak pull

I own a pair of wavewalker pedal kayaks that I really love . I am just about ready to spring for a native craft pedal yakanoe . I have never pedalled a hobie mirage drive but have frequently bashed them for being slow and no reverse etc.

Point is that I am thinking of organizing a fun event at Del Valle in Livermore to pit one pedal drive system against another. I envision a tractor pull style event, a slalom, a tug of war, an all out speed event etc. 

So just gauging interest. I have spoken briefly with Sunrise in Livermore who has both Hobies and Native Craft for demo at the lake and there is some interest there.

Sound like fun?

patrick

From what I've heard...  (Revised... I had it backwards... )

 Hobie has the " Hole Shot "  Speed, being it gets off the line faster, but

 in the long run the Native Water Craft has more consistent speed and power...

 Hard to beat Reverse Capabilities too,  the thing I don't like about the Native Water Craft, is your knees are riding too high to make it comfortable to fish ( just having sit inside one, not having tried on the water )  I also think the Native Water Craft system is more appealing to most folks as the drive system is more traditional.

 If Native Water Craft  were to tweak a few things,

  They could give Hobie some trouble...  

 Would like to hear your results      

  

Have you looked at the Torqeedo drive on the Native Craft?

My belief is that the recumbent position bike style drive has to be more efficient than the winged wonders. The wavewalker prop is much larger than the NC prop.

Have you looked at the Torqeedo drive on the Native Craft?

 Removes you from the AOTY competition or tournaments

 and no one would ever talk to me again...   

  " Human Propelled craft only.... "

 

the recumbent position bike style drive

 That's the problem for fishing, leaning too far back, don't like it...

The Native drive is much heavier than the Hobie. Draft is deeper too - you can easily impale the propeller guard in the mud. I swear I got the Native to cavitate, it felt a lot like spinning the tires, you go nowhere. Neither is any good in thick weeds or tough surf launches. Native is geared higher, requiring more effort to maintain cruising speed. Without the benefit of GPS, I feel the Native's sprint speed is higher. 

I have much more experience with the Hobie drive, a possible source of bias. For fishing, that's the hands-free solution I prefer. It simply seems more flexible.

Good luck with your experiments - it'll be interesting to see your results. Make sure individual testers try both boats, not just one.

I'll put my money on Ariel in his WS. I watched him tow in Al's swamped OK at Shelter Cove!

I'll put my money on Ariel in his WS. I watched him tow in Al's swamped OK at Shelter Cove!

 

 Thanks for the report on that Pal,  makes sense,  the info I got was from a rep,

 so there ya go....

This sounds like a great idea Patrick! It c/b the first-ever SOT kaya-lympics!
Keep us updated on this event---I bet a lot of people here w/b interested.
PK

I'll put my money on Ariel in his WS. I watched him tow in Al's swamped OK at Shelter Cove!

problem here is Ariel specifically told me that ChuckE is faster than him in his adventure.

ChuckE adventure>Ariel>Lino in his revo>everyone else>me in any kayak

Chuck?