R.I.P. Hobie Alter
 

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My very first surfboard was a 9' 3" Hobie.

Rest in Peace Hobie....thanks for all you did for the sport of surfing. SmileWavy

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Hobie Alter got his feet wet in the surfing business by making longboards out of balsa wood in his family's Laguna Beach garage in the 1950s. (Hobie Designs, Inc./Handout) (March 30, 2014)


By Steve Chawkins

March 30, 2014, 3:37 p.m.

Hobie Alter, who shaped Southern California’s signature surf culture by pioneering the mass-produced foam surfboard and later popularized sailing by inventing a lightweight, high-performance catamaran, died Saturday at his home in Palm Desert. He was 80.

The announcement of Alter’s death was posted on Hobie.com, his company’s website. No cause was disclosed.

A self-taught design innovator and entrepreneur whose “Hobie” brand earned him a fortune, Alter was nonetheless a reluctant businessman who eschewed suits for cutoffs and was guided by his imagination above all else.

“I’m making money producing things that give me pleasure, doing exactly what I want to do,” Alter told a reporter in 1977. “I guess I’m really lucky that way.”

Hobie Alter, who shaped Southern California surf culture, dies at 80 - latimes.com

R.I.P. Hobie Alter | SURFER Magazine

Hobart Alter - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I grew up in Santa Barbara in the 70's and spent a large part of my youth on the water and at the harbor. Hobie Cats were THE catamaran during that era. RIP Hobie..

I still have a Hobie Super Surfer skateboard with clay wheels. I was just reading a book I have called the Concrete Wave, the history of skateboarding. It talks about Hobie and the Vita-Pakt company getting together to market Hobie skateboards. Hobie was the first to introduce a pressure molded fiberglass skateboards. He was also the first to mass market a truck for skateboards. He also was one of the first to have urethane wheels but the executives at Vita-Pakt vetoed the idea because it would make the prices too high. It wasn't until 8 years later that Cadillac urethane wheels came out.

Sad. Was a big influence when I was younger. :( The man made massive contributions to watersports.

In college I raced Hobie 14's and 16's which were the rage! My first sailboat was a Helsen 22 which was designed by Hobie. A great contributor to catamaran sailing that still maintains its popularity today. A true visionary. A great man. He will be missed.

Bob _/)

Started sailing the Hobie 16 in '78 and finally passed it along to a friend in '92...got the itch again last summer and did a roundtrip from NC to Lake Ontario to pick up a very nice used one.

Sad to say, hardly anyone sails them around here anymore

It's sorta odd how they aren't as popular as they once were. Maybe the jet ski has replaced them.

Catamaran sailing still big, and the Hobie 14's, 16's and larger are fantastic buys. Cheap way to get into fast, agile sailing. Hobie took a Polynesian outrigger design and made it into the most fun, fastest sailing catamaran to ever come off production. Even the name seemed fitting.

URY, I see that you are in Tampa, so maybe things are different there, but I believe the problem here is access.

Used to be, back during the 80's, we'd just haul the boat across the dunes and leave it set up for the weekend...or launch in the back bays where there was a sandy area next to a ramp. No more...all the damn beach restrictions make it all but impossible to get to the ocean, and all the developers bought up all the land/launches or CAMA rip-rapped the snot out of any sandy area on the bays.

I got lucky and found a sympathetic cop that will let me use the city access this year....

I remember back in the 70-80's there would be rows of Hobies lined up on Gulf beaches. My friend had one and we'd go out in Tampa Bay in his.

Now- not so much. Hardly ever see them. Maybe it is a beach access problem or people are too lazy to learn which way the wind blows.

Yep. I grew up in Sarasota, and there were always Hobie catamarans lined up on Siesta Key and Lido.

That's too sad. My first cat was a Hobie 14. I went on to own 16s and 18s as well as Prindle's and other makes...some of the best times I ever had in my life are attributable to him.

There is almost nothing as much fun as a sunny day, a beach cat and good wind. He made it happen for thousands. RIP.

Now it may be costs. California institituted environmental decrees that dictated Hobies had to be built elsewhere. They're now made in Australia (I'm pretty sure) and are very expensive. Sad as I always associated Hobies with California.

Many fond hours on a 16' racing and hull flying. Godspeed Hobie

We spend a week a year at Long Boat Key. Love it.

NICE! My family still lives in Sarasota. Why oh why did I ever leave it?

If memory serves....the (original) 12' and 14' models had a single sail and 16' included a jib as well....

I agree cost may be an issue as well...when I started looking last spring, new 16's were around 10k...decent used boats still $$$...I was really surprised (that's why I road-tripped to upper NYS for the boat I now have).

If I remember correctly, he was looking for something to do when the winds kicked up and came up with a simple design using asymmetric hulls so that daggerboards wouldn't be necessary...and then that pic of a 16' flying off the face of a wave hit the cover of "Life"...:)

Just checked CL in FL and there are plenty of good buys.

Check this one out....

$1300, with trailer

Hobie 16

BTW if you want a good used one....beachcats is still around: Catamaran Sailboats at TheBeachcats.com

My wife donated my last boat (a Prindle 18) to some neighbors in exchange for donations to an animal shelter....still a bone of contention. It had sat for quite a while but that didn't mean I didn't have plans for it....

RIP Hobie.
Hard for me to think of any one else that has brought as much fun to so many people.

Not as well known in general circles but Hobie Alter set the RC sailplane world on its side in the 1970's with a revolutionary sailplane design.
The Hobie Hawk, a highly prefabbed roughly 100 inch RC sailplane had a fiberglass fuselage and and a very distinctive and high performance elliptical wing.

Instantly recognizable and totally unique to the RC sailplane crowd, it was a hot rod for sure.

Curt

RIP Hobie Alter, thanks for everything!

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I learned to sail in my father in law's Hobie 16. He was/is an expert sailor - working with him jibe a Hobie in the canals in the Florida Keys under high winds was amazing. Here's his quote he sent me this morning:

Just read this bit on Alter.

1962: He achieved success as a tandem surfer, placing second in the event at Makaha in 1962.

1964: Alter added to his personal notoriety by making the Guinness Book of World Records in 1964, surfing the wake of a motorboat 26 miles from Long Beach to Catalina Island.

Agree. And about these cat tramps, woo hoo baby getting them to turn! Fun times and makes we want to find one again. Prindels were hot. For awhile, neglected 16's could be had for $500 to $600 ready to tow home.

My first new board was an 8'10" Hobie I bought at his new shop on PCH in Dana Point, The next year I took it to Hawaii, it seemed too small, sold it and bought a
10' Balsa from Haleiwa Surf built by Mike Difenderfer, I used that in Hawaii and when I left for home traded it for a 9'2" Phil Edwards he made before he was hooked up with Hobie. Those were some great times and great surfboards. RIP all of them.

Great memories.
Used to race the 14, 16 and 18' Hobie's 16' was my favorite.
Lived in Tampa on the bay- was out just about every day.
For some reason I kept my gloves and trapeze harness- still in the garage.
They certainly are not as popular as they used to be. We were at Marco Island last week and there were a couple of hobie's- all rentals.
Yes the 14' was a single sail, the larger boats had jibs. They did have a jib kit for the 14.
The 14 was sometimes a little difficult to tack in light winds, but just took a little practice.
Thanks Hobie, you opened the water to a lot of people. May the wind always be at your back.
Gary

It's not as big as it once was but Hobie cat sailing still has a halfway decent fleet around Southern New Jersey. Stone Harbor has a small fleet of maybe 30 Hobies on the beach. The city sells permits to leave your boat on the beach. On the Delaware bay side of Cape May there is the an active fleet called the Hobie fleet 443. They organize a race in Wildwood every year the Wildwood Classic Cup that draws a few thousand Hobie sailors. I bought my first Hobie a 17 at one of their events back in the late 80's. It was the year the boat came out. Hobie brought in a few hundred 17's for the Hobie Nationals. After the weekend they sold the boats off for half MSR.

Great times on that boat. I think the reason you don't see as many any more is the same reason we don't see a lot of things any more. We have gotten older and moved on. Some have made money and gotten into larger boats. I know for me I don't have the time to spend like I did. Unlike surfing where you check the surf make a decision and get an hour in, sailing of any kind is a commitment and the younger generations don't have an interest.

I think I was about 10 years old when I first attended sailing lessons at our yacht club. There were probably 50 kids that attended with me and the clubs in the surrounding towns each had about the same. I visited my old club a few years back thinking I might enroll my daughter. They had 7 kids and it was more a baby sitting service than sailing instruction. There wasn't a single boat in the water and everyone including the staff of two were sitting at a picnic table looking at their phones.

My friend and I had a Hobie 16 and a Hobie 18 that we trailered from Michigan to Hilton Head each summer in the early 80's. Kept them right on the beach and no one bothered them. Now that would be totally impossible due to increased buidling and restrictive beach access rules. Seems like all of the fun things are harder to do these days. RIP Hobie Alter - sailing these wonderful cats in the ocean is one of the best memories of my life.

In remembrance......

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^^^ Good thoughts.

In the Midwest and inland lakes, I would add the demise or popularity of wet sailing was due the advent of jetskis. Also, the cost of a new one was like a jetski.

Some of the great sail colors including the ever popular Tequila Sunrise on the Hobe 16.http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1396367034.jpg
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The Tequila Sunrise was the pattern of our first '16...blue hulls tho

Here is the pic from Life Mag:http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1396378436.jpg

I hope he died a rich man.

Unless he gave it al away I am sure he did. Even then he died a rich man. He added so much to life.

Pretty well documented he was not comfortable with all the wealth that came with his success.

In the end that is what made him who he was.

A self made man who never forgot his roots and never stopped doing what he loved most.

That's the definition of being rich.....yup.

Reading about all these hobie cats makes me want one! Just wish I had the space to store it!