I'm an amateur photography enthusiast who happens to have the good fortune of living on the Outer Banks of NC. My wife and I just bought a house, which means we have somewhere to store a yak or 2 (though no money to buy them with, but that's what bank robbery is for).
I'm going to synthesize a bunch of the information I've absorbed from this awesome forum into this post as I illustrate my initial thought process in hopes that this may be helpful to someone in the future, and then I'm going to ask a couple questions. For the experts who have more answers than questions these days, I will Bold my questions for your kind TLDR convenience.
I started scouring the internet for photography kayaks and kept seeing Native and Hobie mentioned. I looked at the Natives and they definitely seemed nice, but once I saw the potential in the drive system, I was hooked. I had no idea this was a thing! My wife and I are also very much into kiteboarding, and when I realized these things can sail, well then I became extremely excited!
THEN I see these AI / TI behemoths and the videos of those, and I almost soiled myself. These things are awesome, and I can't wait to try them all out ASAP! It's been an exciting few days of discovery and devouring of information on this forum, and I feel like a caveman who was suddenly transported through time to now. Just thinking about all the ways I could put these beautiful water steeds to use makes me want to literally throw $10,000 into a Hobie dealer's face...
So now, I've been calming myself and trying to think of a rational path of acquisition over the course of the next couple years. I think the end game will certainly be a TI, but I'll probably break down before I can stow that amount of cash together and buy one of the less expensive toys.
We have winds that are constantly in the 18-25mph range in the Spring and Fall. The summers have plenty of those same days, but also a mix of lighter 6-15 mph days. I weigh 160 lbs and my wife is 130 lbs. I am a 5 minute walk from sound access and a 5 minute bike ride from a beach access.
For a photography platform where I'm shooting with a lot of expensive gear, the immediately obvious first choice is to go with the Outback. I've seen tons of videos and pictures of people standing up and fishing on it in calm waters, which is certainly a testament to its stability.
However, with the amount of wind and distance there is to travel here, it seems like the revo models are going to be much easier for traveling across the open sound / ocean waters. The further I can go, the more photos I might be able to capture.
Additionally, the consensus seems to be that the revos (and especially the revo 16 / Adventure with the dagger board) are going to be more fun to sail. Having a fun sail has somehow now eclipsed me wanting to keep my camera dry, and I'm looking at the revo 13, 16, and Oasis with the understanding that all 3 of them will probably be more enjoyable to sail than the outback. For me, each of these kayaks has their own strength:
Revo 13 - Most maneuverable in the water and portable on land.
Revo 16 (adventure) - Best upwind sailing performance. Best peddling performance. Not necessarily more fun of a sail than the 13, just more efficient. Some say it is a wetter experience, but generally both the 13 and the 16 are wet.
Oasis - The fun of sailing this would be that two people could do it at once. Probably more stable and less efficient of a sailer than the other two - hard to find direct comparisons there since its serving a different group.
I decided to drop the Oasis out of the running because if my end goal is to get a Tandem Island, then I'll eventually have a tandem kayak option.
So now we're back to the Revo 13 and 16, assuming they can be stable enough for photography. My thought here is that either of these two yaks can become stable with the simple addition of the sidekicks, but there is no way for the Outback to become faster. Yes you could buy the turbos, but they could also be bought for the other yaks. The counter argument is that sidekicks could be added to the Outback, but it seems that the Outback is already stable enough to where more stability isn't generally a concern.
Will adding the sidekicks to a Revo 13 or 16 increase the primary stabilization to the point where they could be comparatively stable for photography / fishing to an Outback? Could you stand up and cast just as comfortably at that point? If so, then doesn't the Revo 13 totally stomp the Outback in general all-around-ness except for storage / deck space?Between the 13 and the 16 (assuming both have really good primary stability with the sidekicks), you're really trading the upwind sailing efficiency (
but not the fun?) of the 16 and a little bit of speed for maneuverability in tighter canals and back channels.
Is there any difference in the sailing wind range of the 13, 16, and Outback with the standard sail? I'm really interested in having something fun to play with in the lighter winds before the kiting gets good around 15 mph.If the TI is certainly in my future, does the 13 have less overlap in feel and functionality or is there enough difference in the TI in kayak mode and the Revo 16 to where they are completely different beasts?I'm definitely going to try to demo all of these yaks this Spring and Summer, but I like to have my ducks in a row first like any good Millennial enjoying the raptures of analysis paralysis. I will return with my thoughts as they change. Probably after demoing I'll get the sport or something!