There is a rudder, usually with a line that you pull to turn the boat. I have a friend that has them for rentals. He always said he could beat me any day in it. I ran circles around him- literally- in my 19' kayak with a GP. My other friend who also has rentals with the Hobie system raced me in a double with a guy who is a coach (not a kayak coach) at a local school. My friend is built like a brick and kayaks every day for a living. The other guy is pretty healthy and has good leg strength. Both were paddling AND using the foot pegs. I still beat them in my 19' Atlantic with a GP.

That said, the system actually works fairly well- much better than expected. It is perfect for tourists and people with disabilities. That's why my friend uses them- much easier to rent to tourists. They get the peddle thing much quicker than paddling with a blade, although he gives them both. The main reason I was able to beat my friends is hull speed and hull design. They were in big bulky sit-on-tops. If you put the same system in a sleek kayak it would do better, but I don't think it's going to match a paddle for speed. One thing for sure, however, it pulled like heck when we towed two 43' sailboat masts from an offshore wreck. (Same day that I raced the double) The ability to paddle and use the Hobie system at the same time gave us a lot of pull to get the huge masts to shore. Once ashore, three men could barely even lift one.

So the system works, and works fairly well, but it's not for me. I prefer paddling.