I’ve been a fan of the Hobie Mirage products since I first learned about them, some years ago. And just for the record, I don’t own or sell any of these products. I just admire the ingenuity of the design, and I’ve enjoyed watching the product line mature.
Anyway, I stopped by Hobie’s display at the [...]

I love Google Analytics. It provides a lot of information about website performance. It’s fun to see a graph of Navagear’s growth since we relaunched the site about three years ago, for instance:

Besides those big numbers (visits, pageviews, etc.), though, one of my favorite Analytics feature is the Content Overview. I especially like to [...]

I love Google Analytics. It provides a lot of information about website performance. It’s fun to see a graph of Navagear’s growth since we relaunched the site about two years ago, for instance:

Besides those big numbers (visits, pageviews, etc.), though, one of my favorite Analytics feature is the Content Overview. I especially like to [...]

Hot on the heals of last week’s “Here come the Mirage Hackers!” post, small-boat enthusiast Mack Horton informed us of his Strider project. Wow!
Mirage Hacking is a good term. I’ve built one hull specifically for the Mirage drive, and I’m building the next one which has a more refined hull shape.

Keep us updated, Mack!

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I knew it was only a matter of time. The Hobie Mirage Drive has so many benefits over conventional pedal-driven propulsion systems, somebody would figure out a way to install it in a boat other than a Hobie kayak.
Let’s call these hypothetical folks “Mirage Hackers”.
Wooden Widget produces innovative dinghy designs, “easy to build, easy to [...]

[Hobie unveiled the new Mirage Pro Angler at the Bassmaster Classic in Shreveport, LA last weekend. It's a new boat designed around the innovative Hobie Mirage Drive. There is a video to help introduce the boat, but I can't embed it here, so you'll have to click this link to see it.
Regular readers [...]

We’ve made no secret of the fact that we’re enamored with Hobbie’s Mirage-drive-equipped pedal-powered kayaks. So what would you get if sailboat people, rather than kayak people, made a pedal-powered boat?
You might get something like the Nauticraft line of pedal-powered boats:

Where did these unusual boats come from? Glad you asked! Fisheries Supply has the Nauticraft’s [...]

I’ve been waiting to see these in person ever since I first heard about them last fall. In case you weren’t aware, Hobie has one of the most innovative pedal-power systems around, the Mirage. It may look funny, but it’s actually a lot more ergonomic than conventional bicycle pedals driving a propeller shaft.
We’ve written [...]

Another Seattle Boatshow find from a few weeks back was the Hobie Adventure Island model, a do-it-all, over-achieving kayak design which is actually pretty impressive. Starting with a sit-on-top design, Hobie adds their interesting foot-pedaled Mirage Drive, which slots through the hull (and is easily removed by turns of a couple locking cams). The main [...]