Hobie Alter has died.....

Doug Lord

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I knew nothing about sailing, but I bought a Hobie 16 back in 1982, my first boat, because I thought it looked fast and fun and really cool, and I wanted to get out on the water.

The Hobie 16 was a delightfully performing boat and a challenge to master, all during some 20 years active in the class, in my case.

Thank you very much, Hobie Alter.
 
Anybody else remember that classic Hobie 14 ad that said something like "The Cat that Flies!" showing a 14 almost totally airborn coming off a wave?

found it!
 

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The shot at 11.29 in the video you posted is a classic. He certainly put the fun back into sailing

The video I liked was the one where a Hobie (18?) pulls a waterskier off the beach, but haven't seen it online

And the best story from years ago in Multihulls magazine went something like: A couple had a male cat and a Hobie 16, so of course they called the cat Hobie. Then they had it neutered, so it became Hobie Altered

Richard Woods
 
Imagine Hobie Alter coming up with his innovations on the internet...would he be told should he just buy some plans, buy an old boat, hire a designer, go to school and learn NA?

The world was a better place, because he didn't do that..he imagined, he designed, and he built, a better way.
 
Imagine Hobie Alter coming up with his innovations on the internet...would he be told should he just buy some plans, buy an old boat, hire a designer, go to school and learn NA?

The world was a better place, because he didn't do that..he imagined, he designed, and he built, a better way.
You're dramatizing a bit. He may have gotten some negativity, but he'd also have gotten a lot of support.
 
A great revolutionary has crossed the bar. Because of his vision the beach cat was born which became an industry and at one time the largest one design class in the world.
I bought my first Hobie Cat 14 as a high school graduation present to myself in 1972. Traded it for a 16 a year later. I have been an avid sailor my entire life, with extreme favoritism to multi-hulls. Had it not been for Hobie Alter my life certainly would have been different, and maybe not as much fun.
I will now go tip a refreshing beverage, may he be telling stories with Peter Spronk and Dick Newick around a drawing board.

Steve Moyer Ft Lauderdale, Florida
 
Quite apt, Steve, "crossed the bar" reminded me of Tennyson's poem..........


Sunset and evening star
And one clear call for me!
And may there be no moaning of the bar
When I put out to sea

But such a tide as moving seems asleep
Too full for sound and foam
When that which drew from out the boundless deep
Turns again home

Twilight and evening bell
And after that the dark!
And may there be no sadness of farewell
When I embark;

For tho' from out our bourne of Time and Place
The flood may bear me far
I hope to see my Pilot face to face
When I have crost the bar
 
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