I promise I am not trying to start a feud but wanted to share what I saw at a recent Kayak tournament. I may have been the only Hobie(PA14), we had a dozen or so paddlers and 6 or so PROP drive yaks. Some of the paddlers were impressively fast.
I was 5th out and with adrenaline pumping, we were all moving at close to top speed. I easily passed 2 of the prop yaks and one mentioned he knew he couldn't keep up with the Hobie drive.
What was most surprising to me was you could hear the turbulence and propeller noise from 1/4 mile away! I expect they would be much quieter at slow speeds but I cant imagine trying to stealth into tailing Redfish with a prop.
I was 5th out and with adrenaline pumping, we were all moving at close to top speed. I easily passed 2 of the prop yaks and one mentioned he knew he couldn't keep up with the Hobie drive.
What was most surprising to me was you could hear the turbulence and propeller noise from 1/4 mile away! I expect they would be much quieter at slow speeds but I cant imagine trying to stealth into tailing Redfish with a prop.