I am writing to tell you a story of the significant impact a Hobie® MirageDrive® kayak has made in my life.
Five years ago, my wife and I bought a small cottage on the coast of Maine, a few miles outside the town of Jonesport. Since we were both schoolteachers, we were about to spend two months every summer at this cottage, which sits on Mason Bay, a secluded ocean cove. Our principal physical activity was exploring the bay on a pair of inexpensive used kayaks. We went out on the water nearly every day.
One morning three years ago, I took the kayak out on a cool, foggy morning, and when I came back inside, I could not move my fingers. Eventually, as they warmed up, they regained strength and mobility, but other similar incidents led me to consult first my regular doctor, then a neurologist. In the fall of that year, the neurologist diagnosed me as having ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.
As the disease progressed – fortunately very slowly – the muscles in my hands, arms, and shoulders began to waste away. My leg muscles remained fairly strong, but I was certain that by the following summer, I would no longer be able to paddle a kayak for any length of time, if at all. When I explained the situation to a friend in my hometown of Baltimore, she invited me to try out a Hobie pedal kayak.
One Saturday morning in the spring, my wife and I drove to the friend’s house on Middle River, just north of Baltimore. We both tried out her Hobie kayaks, and we were both amazed at how easily we could pedal and steer them. I had no doubt that I needed a Hobie kayak if I wanted to continue my summer excursions around Mason Bay. I found a dealer in Bangor, called up, and put a deposit on a kayak. Early in the summer, I drove to Bangor to pick it up and brought it back to our cottage in Jonesport.
This summer marks my third year pedaling my Hobie kayak around Mason Bay. As you can imagine, I have been able to go faster and further than I ever could paddling in the conventional way, even as ALS saps my overall strength and endurance. But I am not interested in kayaking as an athletic event. I am simply happy to be out on the water – to watch sunlight sparkling on the waves, to hear the whistle of an osprey as it soars overhead, to see the ebbing tide reveal seaweed-bedecked boulders.
Thanks to your beautifully designed and functional kayak, I can continue my love affair with the sea and the sky and the flora and fauna of coastal Maine.
Yours sincerely,
Andrew McBee
