Hobie sometimes has good reasons for not doing things a certain way due to warranties or something we don't know, so I will look at it from a constructive side. Maybe there have been a bunch of paddle losses due to an overdeck wave stripping the front blade out of the holder and it angling out of the rear holder. Of course I lanyard everything from drive to paddle to hat to drybag.
A minimalist solution is a $15+ telescoping paddle which you can grab in a second stashed under your seat or a bungee. You don't have to extend for quick use, but can telescope in a moment also. I recommend against the common variant where there is a boat hook on handle end and a grip cutout on the paddle end; you lose too much paddle force thru the hole (I taped mine up).
Possibly you can mate 2 together by removing the smallest diameter end of one and sharing the other to form a double end paddle. This may be fragile, but there are pretty sturdy telescopic oars which may give a strong makeshift double ender.
Another approach is 4 piece kayak paddles which can be cheap but slow to deploy. I would tie into a bundle with both blades at the same end so I can grab quickly from under bungee without mating, or mate for a long slog home. Here it is hard to follow my practice of always lanyarding equipment, but at least attach a (elastic?) line to one part.
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