hacktorious wrote:
One guy told me his Tarpon is much faster than the Hobie rev 11. I wanted to get some thoughts from current hobie owners on this.
Speed is one of those things where there are lots of opinions but little evidence. I found only one actual measured speed reference on the Tarpon 120, as follows:
Tarpon 140 vs. 120 vs. Emotion Fisherman
Posted March 10th, 2004 @ 08:48pm by Erik J. Barzeski
The final issue? Speed. My GPS tracks my speed down to the point where I'll see a 0.2 MPH drop when I finish one stroke but have yet to begin the next. I could paddle comfortably at 3 MPH in my Tarpon 120. Heading into a wind I'd get anywhere between there, and paddling as fast as I could (i.e. for about ten strokes) I'd top out at about 5 MPH. My Revo 11 easily covers 4.25 to 4.5 miles in an hour (GPS readouts, with properly tuned Turbofins) and can average 4.75 for an hour for a good workout. Sprint speed is 6.0 MPH, briefly. I'm not aware of anything in the 11 to 12' range that can touch a Revo 11 in cruise speed.
One thing to keep in mind -- whenever you pass someone in a boat it's natural to think your boat is faster. The person operating the boat (age, condition and motivation) and the propulsion equipment (paddle design or fin size for instance) all tend to be marginalized.
So when you hear boasts of speed without supporting data or circumstances, it's wise to take it with a grain of salt!