You got me curious, so I looked up some comparisons. They all seem to show the Hobie favorably. The Hobie appears faster and more efficient than the propellers I saw. Also much more torque because the fins are so much larger than the propellers, so you get better acceleration from a stop.
I’ve seen a test of the Hobie design in a race with pedal powered designs. IIRC I don’t think it faired very well.
You got me curious, so I looked up some comparisons. They all seem to show the Hobie favorably. The Hobie appears faster and more efficient than the propellers I saw. Also much more torque because the fins are so much larger than the propellers, so you get better acceleration from a stop.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3ORsW2sn4Q
I couldn’t find perfect apples to apples comparisons, but that video seemed to illustrate the general comparison.