Hobie Kayaks

While at the Northern Illinois Boat Show, I stumbled across a booth with the Mirage Series kayaks from Hobie. The Mirage is Hobies' pedal series kayak. The system is pretty cool. I spoke with one of the reps at the booth and got to know more about the kayaks and the pedal system.

There were three models on display from the Mirage Series. They had the Outback, Adventure, and the Sport. The hull design of the Mirage series is what first caught my attention. While they did not have a pool at the show, you could tell the stability of these boats just by looking at them. The wide hull design had almost a tri-hull shape to it that gives these boats their stability. Hobie also used every inch of this hull. While most sit on tops are spacious by nature, the Mirages have storage all over the boat. Even the Sport, the smallest of the series, had 2 dry bag storage compartments built into the hull and rod holders. The rear of the kayak was all open storage with a bungee net. The Adventure and Outback has all the same features and a few bungee net pockets through out the seating area. All three have a twist rudder for perfect tracking and a sail kit option.

The Mirage pedal system is pretty awesome on these boats. It is a pedal system that has too "paddles" that cross back and forth. The idea of the mirage drive is that it allows you to fish or relax while utilizing your strongest muscle group to power your boat. The actual pedal system drops into the hull so you can remove it if you do not want to use it.

At the show, they had the Outback decked out with the sail kit and fishing poles all over it. This already large kayak was made even MORE noticeable with these options. The sail kit is about 10 feet tall and, coupled with the Mirage drive, really changes the way you handle these kayaks. Along with the sail kit, the Outback also had the electric motor option on it. This boat can really be anything you want it to be and can adapt to any type of paddler.