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We purchased our Red Hibiscus 2016 Tandem Island a little over a year ago, in mid 2017. My wife and I are the primary users, and we are mid 50's. As others have pointed out, it is a bit expensive, and we waited until we located a year end model at a Hobie dealer located on our way to the beach. Our first experiences were in Wolf Bay, in Orange Beach, AL. I already had experience surf launching large (Jackson Kayak Kracken 13.5) and knew better than to attempt surf launches until I was really confortable with the kayak.

Prior to owning the TI, we had never sailed. The learning curve has been easy, but I started slowly, and have sailed conservatively as the skills build. We have sailed the kayak in Lake Lanier, GA and in Wolf Bay, Orange Beach, AL for the past year and truly love the kayak. We intend to sail a little in the Gulf a little this year, and camp if we have opportunity.

We intended to also use the TI as a tandem sit on top kayak, but every time we have opportunity to get on the water, we prefer to sail it. The options of paddling, pedaling and sailing right out of the box produce an extremely flexible system where I don't worry about light winds and calm - we can always pedal. In fact, we pedal as we sail in ligh winds quite often and enjoy the exercise.

We have experienced no major issues with the TI. We have experienced a broken rudder pin that after researching I attribute to my loading and unloading onto the ladder track on my truck. If I am not careful, the rudder (and rudder pin) are stressed quite a bit as I load and unload the kayak.

We take a waterproof speaker and play music as we sail - it just doesn't get any better!