Hobart Alter facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Hobart Alter
|
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
Hobart Laidlaw Alter
October 31, 1933 Ontario, California, U.S.
|
| Died | March 29, 2014 (aged 80) Palm Desert, California, U.S.
|
| Occupation | Sports equipment fabricator |
| Children | Three |
Hobart "Hobie" Alter (born October 31, 1933 – died March 29, 2014) was an amazing American inventor and business owner. He loved surfing and sailing. Hobie created the famous Hobie Cat sailboats and started the Hobie company. He was a true pioneer in water sports!
Contents
Hobie Alter's Story
Hobie Alter is famous for inventing a new way to make surfboards. He used foam and fiberglass, which made boards lighter and faster. He also created the popular Hobie Cat catamaran sailboats. His brand, Hobie, became one of the best-selling surfboard companies ever! Hobie also designed the Hobie 33 sailboat and a popular radio-controlled glider called the Hobie Hawk.
Early Days and Surfboards
In 1950, during his summer break, Hobie started building 9-foot balsawood surfboards for his friends. He used his family's garage in Laguna Beach, California, as his workshop. What started as a fun hobby quickly grew into a business.
Hobie once said he wanted to make a living by "making people a toy and giving them a game to play with it." A few years later, he opened Southern California's first surf shop. It was located in Dana Point, California.
In 1958, Hobie and his friend Gordon "Grubby" Clark began trying new ideas. They experimented with making surfboards from foam and fiberglass. These new boards were much lighter, faster, and easier to control than the old wooden ones. Many famous surfers rode for the Hobie Team, including Joey Cabell, Phil Edwards, Corky Carroll, and Joyce Hoffman.
In 1983, Hobie received the Golden Plate Award from the American Academy of Achievement. He was also added to the National Sailing Hall of Fame in 2011.
Hobie's Youth and Business Growth
Hobie Alter grew up in Ontario, California. But his family had a summer home in Laguna Beach. There, Hobie learned to love all kinds of ocean sports. He started surfing thanks to Walter Hoffman. In the early 1950s, Hobie began shaping balsa wood surfboards.
By 1953, his family's yard was full of surfboard parts. So, his father bought him a piece of land in Dana Point for $1,500. In February 1954, Hobie Surfboards officially opened. Hobie remembered, "People laughed at me for setting up a surf shop." They thought he would run out of customers quickly. But orders kept coming in!
Hobie also started making skateboards in 1962. By 1964, he teamed up with a juice company to create Hobie Skateboards. He even sponsored the Hobie Super Surfer skateboard team.
Hobie hired other talented board builders. These included Phil Edwards and Reynolds Yater. When foam-and-fiberglass boards became popular, Hobie brought Joe Quigg (surfer) from Hawaii to help meet the high demand. Later, high-volume shapers like Ralph Parker and Terry Martin joined. They shaped hundreds of thousands of surfboards over the years. Other famous shapers who worked for Hobie included Dewey Weber and Mickey Munoz.
After trying out foam for a couple of years, Hobie made a big discovery in 1958. He found the perfect way to make foam strong enough to shape into surfboards. He set up a separate factory in Laguna Canyon to make polyurethane surfboard blanks. He hired Gordon "Grubby" Clark to help. Soon after, the movie Gidget came out. This made surfing incredibly popular, and the demand for surfboards exploded!
The new foam boards were very popular. Hobie was soon making 250 boards every week. Clark eventually took over the foam business, calling it Clark Foam. His company supplied most of the world's surfboard foam until it closed in 2005.
Hobie was also a great surfer himself. He won the second Brooks Street contest in Laguna in 1954. He also placed third and fourth at the Makaha International Surfing Championships in 1958 and 1959. He was good at tandem surfing (two people on one board), placing second at Makaha in 1962. In 1964, Hobie even made the Guinness Book of World Records. He surfed the wake of a motorboat for 26 miles from Long Beach to Catalina Island!
The Hobie Cat Sailboat
Hobie Alter's Hobie Cat became the center of a very successful worldwide business. It made catamaran sailboats.
The company created 16 different types of sailboats. These ranged from the small Hobie 10 to the large Hobie 33, which was a 33-foot (10 m) boat.
Hobie sold Hobie Cat to the Coleman Company, Inc. in 1976. His sons, Hobie Jr. and Jeff, continued the family business. They run Hobie Designs and manage the company's licensing. Before he passed away, Hobie spent his time between the mountains of Idaho (where he skied) and Orcas Island. This island is in the Pacific Northwest. There, he kept his 60-foot catamaran, which he designed and built himself.
Hobie Alter's Passing
Hobie Alter passed away from cancer in Palm Desert, California, on March 29, 2014. He was 80 years old.
