I attended the Austin Tx. Hobie demo this weekend. After weeks of 97 F daily temperatures, a cold front blew in for Saturday and it was cold and wet the entire day. This gave me a little more time to try out the TI as there were not a lot of people willing to brave the elements. Sunday brought better weather but hardly a puff of wind to use the sail. I have to say that feeling the wind catch the sail for the first time was an amazing experience.
The Hobie folks were very helpful and friendly in answering my many questions about the TI. They did not have a 2015 TI to demo but the 2014 they brought had the new Mirage drives. The drive felt very smooth and worked great but with more time I would like to do an A-B comparison just to see if I can feel a difference.
Some of the other boats had the new Vantage seat and I had a chance to sit in it quite a bit. I love this seat, even if it didn't have the huge range of adjustment I would still say it's an improvement over the previous one.
Just for fun I took out the little Mirage Sport. It was a very funny feeling after being experienced with my longer Revo 13. I felt like I was riding on a cork compared to the Revo 13. One of the Hobie guys had a good chuckle watching my confusion; the steering lines were reversed and he saw me look back at the rudder to see what was up knowing that I owned the Revo. I accused them of bringing a Sport with "British" steering
It was my first time to see the TI in person and at the end of the day I pre-ordered a 2015 for December delivery. Our Dealer Austin Kayak was offering a %5 discount on the boat, %15 on accessories so I saved a bit on the purchase.
Sorry for the lack of pictures but everything that was new has already been photographed and readily available so I didn't bother to add my poor photos.
Now to get that trailer modified.
Chris