Hobie Cat

"Hobie Cat"[1] can also refer to specific products of the company, notably its sailing catamarans.

The company's non-sailing product line includes surfboards, kayaks, stand-up paddle boards, pedalboards, eyeware, and e-bikes.

[4] Alter opened a surfboard shop (a relatively new sport at the time) in the late 1950s, but his focus changed in 1961 towards designing an easily beached, fiberglass catamaran.

[5] The impetus of this shift is attributed to a 1961 boat show in Anaheim, California, where Alter sold surfboards adjacent to the designer of the 1961 Aqua Cat 12 sailboat,[6] which featured lightweight fiberglass hulls with an aluminium tube structure supporting a trampoline style deck for seating.

[7] Following the 1961 boat show, Alter contacted Arthur "Art" Javes to tell him he was also entering the fledgling catamaran market.

In 1996, Hobie introduced the Pursuit kayak, the first of a new generation of boats built using rotomolded polyethylene.

Sailboat sales lagged behind kayaks, thanks in part to the popularity of the mirage drive and Hobie’s rugged, high quality recreational and fishing-focused designs.

The two companies shared worldwide production & distribution rights to the Hobie Cat designs, but otherwise operated as separate entities.

Most of Hobie Europe’s production line was not made available in the US, except to owners willing to pay to have them imported.

[11] The Hobie Cat Company was sold in March 2021 to venture capitalists, including Maynard Industries.

They’re most famous for their fiberglass catamarans, though the company has made significant numbers of rotomolded boats beginning in the 1990s and 2000s.

While the company briefly produced dinghies and monohulls in the 1980s as well, they never reached anywhere near the same popularity as their catamarans and were discontinued after a handful of years.

The Hobie 14 is very sensitive to weight placement fore and aft as a result of the banana hull shape.

In rough water, strong winds or weight placed too far forward, the leeward bow is somewhat prone to "dig in," resulting in what is known asa "pitchpole."

Wings of both types, magnum and SX, are in much demand today due to the added comfort and space provided.

The Sport version included a jib and a small boomlett that was not attached to the mast and was intended for recreational sailing by two people.

Intended for casual sailing, this boat has a front trampoline, wings, an outboard motor-mount, and a built-in cooler.

The Hobie 20 eliminated the hull lip, a significant source of drag, and moved towards higher aspect ratio sails and daggerboards.

Introduced in 1994, it was based on a series of boats designed by Greg and Dan Ketterman and sailed by Russel Long, which eventually culminated in Long setting the A-Class Catamaran world sailing speed record in 1992 in the boat "Longshot".

[31][32] The TriFoiler is based on Longshot and this sailing hydrofoil stands as the most unusual of Hobie Cat's boats.

[citation needed] Production ceased because of limited popularity; the boat was expensive and fragile, and could be used only in low-wave conditions with winds between 10 and 25 mph (16 and 40 km/h).

It had a double trapeze, asymmetrical spinnaker with snuffer retrieval system, high aspect ratio daggerboards, race rudders, and sails designed by Giorgio Zuccoli.

D-PN: 83.0[30] The FX-One was designed and produced by the France-based Hobie Cat Europe company.

The boat features wave-piercing bows, a flat bottom in the stern for better planing, and high aspect ratio mainsail & daggerboards.

The boats from the US include the Bravo, Wave and Getaway, whilst the European range consists of the Catsy, Teddy, Twixxy, Max and Tattoo or "T2".

The Wave was designed by the Morelli/Melvin Engineering firm, and has proved to be extremely popular with beach resorts and rental operations.

[citation needed] Although marketed as a recreational sailboat, an owner-controlled racing class has organized and held regattas since 1998.

The boat has a trampoline both forward and aft of the mast, and is the only rotomolded Hobie to come stock with a jib and have an available trapeze.

To be trailerable in all US states without special overwidth road permits, beam was kept to just 8 ft (2.4 m), which is quite narrow for a boat of this length, although the Hobie 33 was advertised as being capable of sleeping 7 people.

In 2005, the Hobie 33 was first in the doublehanded division of Transpacific Yacht Race and went on to win its class against fully crewed boats.