Hobie Mirage Adventure Island

Sailing the Adventure Island is about as simple as it gets. Just reach forward and pull on the mainsheet to unfurl the sail, then sit back and steer with your left hand.

The trimaran design makes this a very stable sailing kayak. You can even stand up in the cockpit and deliberately rock the boat, and it won't capsize.

When tacking, the Mirage pedal drive can be used to power through the tack without losing way.

She sails upwind well, and reaches very nicely, with good balance. Downwind, the Adventure Island does well in a steady wind, but in light air, the lack of a boom makes it a tad difficult to keep the sail out and filled.

The Mirage pedal drive that Hobie uses is based on the same principle that penguins use -- 2 fins that sweep back and forth under the boat as you pedal.

Hobie's design is ingenious. The pedal drive has a surprising amount of power. Hobie even has a video on their site showing a pedal in the Adventure Island tied to stern to stern to a 2-man kayak, and the pedal is able to pull the paddlers backwards despite their best efforts.

When pedaling, the motion of the fins under the water is nearly silent. The pedals are easily adjustable to fit people of different sizes. When you're entering shallow water, you can easily fold up the fins flat against the hull by simply placing the pedals fore and aft.

Women, in particular, will like the pedal power of the Adventure Island, because pedaling uses the stronger lower body muscle groups, allowing those who don't have a lot of upper-body strength to maintain a nice pace and keep up with stronger paddlers.

Serious kayakers who prefer paddling over any other form of propulsion probably won't be all that interested in the Adventure Island.

First, with the amas attached, the akas (the crossbeams that attach the amas) sort of get in the way of paddling. You can paddle, yes, but you'll find it difficult to make long sweeping power strokes.

Second, because of the pedal-powered Mirage drive, the rudder isn't controlled by foot pedals, as most conventional kayaks are. The rudder is controlled by a small lever embedded into the coaming on the left side of the boat. It's within easy reach of your left hand and is convenient to use when pedaling or sailing, but when paddling you have to take your left hand off the paddle in order to adjust the rudder. (You can see the lever in the photo at right.)

Nevertheless, the Adventure Island paddles well and is reasonably fast, considering the wide beam. It will never be as fast to paddle as one of the very long, very narrow kayaks that are designed to go fast.