16 Facts About Hobart Alter

Hobart "Hobie" Laidlaw Alter was an American surf and sailing entrepreneur and pioneer, creator of the Hobie Cat catamarans, and founder of the Hobie company.

Hobart Alter created the Hobie 33 ultralight-displacement sailboat and a mass-produced radio-controlled glider, the Hobie Hawk.

Hobart Laidlaw Alter was born and raised in Ontario, California, but his family had a summer house in Laguna Beach, where Alter got into the full array of ocean sports.

Hobart Alter asked his dad to pull the DeSoto out of the family's Laguna Beach, California, garage, and converted the garage into a woodshop for his hobby.

Hobart Alter began making skateboards in 1962 and by 1964 he teamed up with the Vita Pakt juice company to create Hobie Skateboards.

Hobart Alter went on to sponsor the Hobie Super Surfer skateboard team.

Hobart Alter hired other board-builders, including Phil Edwards and Reynolds Yater.

Hobart Alter decided to set up a separate foam-blowing operation in nearby Laguna Canyon and recruited one of his glassers, Gordon "Grubby" Clark, to make polyurethane surfboard blanks.

Hobart Alter won the second Brooks Street contest in Laguna in 1954 and placed third and fourth at the Makaha International Surfing Championships in 1958 and 1959.

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

Hobart Alter made the Guinness Book of World Records in 1964, surfing the wake of a motorboat 26 miles from Long Beach to Catalina Island.

Hobart Alter created 16 unique sailboats from the Hobie 10, once designed to compete with the Laser, to the Hobie 33, a 33-foot monohull, lift-keel boat.

Hobart Alter sold Hobie Cat to the Coleman Company, Inc in 1976, and his sons Hobie Jr.

Hobart Alter died of cancer in Palm Desert, California, on March 29,2014, at the age of 80.

In 1983, Hobart Alter received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement.

Hobart Alter was inducted into the National Sailing Hall of Fame in 2011.