2024 iTrek Changes

In addition to the much touted Sail and Bimini Mount (which is great by the way) the 2024 models also have another untouted change. Sadly the boats no longer ship with a paddle nor do they have clips on the boat to hold a paddle. This is a safety issue in my opinion. In fact, the new manual which deletes most reference to paddles still says under the safety checklist "Always carry the paddle
provided with the boat". One step forward and two steps back.

Hobie sometimes has good reasons for not doing things a certain way due to warranties or something we don't know, so I will look at it from a constructive side. Maybe there have been a bunch of paddle losses due to an overdeck wave stripping the front blade out of the holder and it angling out of the rear holder. Of course I lanyard everything from drive to paddle to hat to drybag.

A minimalist solution is a $15+ telescoping paddle which you can grab in a second stashed under your seat or a bungee. You don't have to extend for quick use, but can telescope in a moment also. I recommend against the common variant where there is a boat hook on handle end and a grip cutout on the paddle end; you lose too much paddle force thru the hole (I taped mine up).

Possibly you can mate 2 together by removing the smallest diameter end of one and sharing the other to form a double end paddle. This may be fragile, but there are pretty sturdy telescopic oars which may give a strong makeshift double ender.

Another approach is 4 piece kayak paddles which can be cheap but slow to deploy. I would tie into a bundle with both blades at the same end so I can grab quickly from under bungee without mating, or mate for a long slog home. Here it is hard to follow my practice of always lanyarding equipment, but at least attach a (elastic?) line to one part.