Hobart age

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Hobart Laidlaw "Hobie" Alter (born October 31, 1933 in Ontario , California , † March 29, 2014 in Palm Desert , California) was an American surfboard manufacturer and yacht designer.

resume

Growing up in California began Age in 1950 that he used surfboards in the garage of his parents' summer home in California's Laguna Beach from balsa wood to build themselves. In 1954 he opened the first surf shop under the name Hobie Surfboards with seed capital of 12,000 US dollars .

Alter's company was joined by other talented surfboard builders such as Phil Edwards and Reynolds Yater. After plastic foams and fiberglass came onto the market, he hired the shapers Joe Quigg from Hawaii, Ralph Parker and Terry Martin, who had great experience in building surfboards and who stood for revolutionary design. After a long series of experiments and tests, the company achieved the breakthrough in terms of maneuverability and strength of the surfboards in 1958. The new boards had names like Speedo Sponges and Flexi-Fliers and, not least because of their design, sold very well with 250 pieces a week. The economic success was accompanied by the sporting successes of Alters and his Hobie Competition Team .

Together with four friends, Alter got into boat building in 1966. In 1966 Alter constructed the world's first beach catamaran Hobie Cat 14 (the 14 stands for the boat length of 14  feet ) and in 1968 built the prototype from the plastics he knew. He benefited from his vast experience in surfboard production. The asymmetrical (banana-shaped) hulls were constructed without a sword, but with an automatic steering system that folds up when touching the ground or the beach. A jib was dispensed with. This makes the catamaran very easy to handle in the water and on the beach, and the entire construction is very robust.

The redesigned Hobie 14 was a success from the start. Wayne Schafer organized a regatta in Newport Beach in the first year of sales . The response in the press, in particular an article in the US magazine Life entitled The Catamaran That Can Fly , made the Hobie 14 , its creator Hobart Age and the so-called Hobie Way of Life popular.

The success motivated Alter to further develop the Hobie Cats (see overview). The Hobie Cats are now the world's largest beach catamaran class. However, all attempts to raise a Hobie type to the Olympic boat class in sailing failed . The faster tornado was preferred .

In 1971 the first Hobie 14 came to Europe. In the same year, the US shipyard subsidiary Coast Catamaran France started production of Hobie 14 and 16 for the European market in Hyères, France .

Sporting successes

  • 1954 Winner of the Brooks Street Contest in Laguna
  • 1958 Third place Makaha International Surfing Championship
  • 1959 Fourth place Makaha International Surfing Championship
  • 1962 Second place Tamdem Surfer Makaha International Surfing Championship
  • 1964 entry in the Guinness Book of World Records: 26 miles surf on the waves of a motorboat from Long Beach to Catalina Island

The Hobie Competition Team was so successful that beating them was a particular challenge in the 1960s. Hobart Age sponsored the most successful surfers on the west and east coasts, including Corky Carroll and Gary Propper .

Types of the Hobie Cat

Hobie 14th

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Dude, Hobart
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Alter, Hobart Laidlaw (full name); Dude, hobie (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American surfboard manufacturer and yacht designer
DATE OF BIRTH October 31, 1933
PLACE OF BIRTH Ontario , California
DATE OF DEATH March 29, 2014
Place of death Palm Desert , California