I have a really bad back, (from a broken back injury yrs ago). We used to have paddle yaks and canoes, but the twisting motion from paddling caused tremendous pain. We started buying Hobie mirage kayaks around 2007-2008. I have really no idea why but peddling Hobies didn’t bother my back at all. However with an exception, if the water is choppy and a lot of waves the rocking motion of the kayak really hurt, so we typically only went out in pretty flat water. When we first moved here from chicago area in 2007 we took up kayaking, at first we were renting paddle yaks and would only go a few hundred feet from shore, and would come back pretty exhausted after an hr or two. Once switching over to Hobies we were able to quadruple our comfortable range, and even started going out offshore and kayak sailing, boy was that fun. With the kayak sails we were able to quadruple our range again. Keep in mind S Florida and the keys are really huge. My back injury is mostly in the middle back area. I found the old pre 2015 mirage kayak seats to be the most comfy for me. Putting the seat back near vertical, the seat acts like a bucket and restricts movement of my mid to lower back. However there is not enough padding under your bottom, after about an hr of being out mu butt would get sore. Adding a 1.5” thick foam pad under the seat really helped, plus it keeps your behind dry, ( a problem with older boats). I have no idea about the newer 2015 and newer seats, but I suspect there to be no back support whatsoever. Which I’m pretty sure would make my situation much worse if I don’t have my back brace on. It’s not very fun wearing a back brace on the water, especially in the extreme florida heat. My back got so bad, under doctors orders we had to sell our tandem island last fall, ( bummer). Good luck FE
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