The Hobie Cat, a sailboat for the masses, is turning 50 with a celebration at Doheny State Beach
Prior to the Hobie Cat, invented by well-known surfboard maker Hobie Alter, sailing was for the elite.
It was a sport reserved for members of yacht clubs who had the mega bucks it took to buy a big boat.
But Alter’s design — the Hobie Cat 14, a small catamaran sailboat that became known as “the people’s boat” — changed the world of sailing when it was unveiled 50 years ago.
“It was a very revolutionary idea, hugely successful,” said Paul Holmes, who wrote the book “Hobie: Master of Water, Wind and Waves.”
“(Sailing) was a rich guy’s thing. The Hobie Cat changed everything.”
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A party celebrating the Hobie Cat’s 50th anniversary will be held at Doheny State Beach on Saturday, Oct. 27, with 50 of the Hobie Cat 14 sailboats embarking on a 10-mile “Hobie Cat Funtastico” regatta that will sail past important historical places along Dana Point’s coastline.
From surfing to sailing
Alter started shaping surfboards in his parents’ Laguna Beach summer home in the early ’50s using heavy balsa wood, until he teamed with Gordon “Grubby” Clark to develop polyurethane foam as a more lightweight, affordable substitute.
It was a pivotal change in surfing history that allowed more people to hit the waves. The same technology, derived from the aerospace industry, is used in most surfboards built today.
It was in the late ’60s that Alter switched his focus from surfboards and started designing sailboats – specifically smaller boats that were affordable for the masses at $999.
He used the same lightweight material that revolutionized surfing – polyurethane foam — to make two hulls, which attached to a platform and sail.
The Hobie 14 was lightweight enough that a solo sailor could haul it to the sand and launch right from the beach. A slip in a harbor was no longer necessary to be a boat owner.
“If you could get access to any stretch of water, you could back up to the beach and you were off and sailing,” Holmes said. “Not all the yachts dealers were happy with it. It was an elitist thing – the Hobie Cat changed all of that.”
Pivotal to the research and development were Phil Edwards, Mickey Munoz and Wayne Shafer, who lives at Beach Road in Capo Beach. That’s where they’d launch the boat and test out designs.
The first regatta was held in 1968 from Capo Beach in Dana Point up toward the Headlands, before the harbor existed.
The upcoming race on Saturday will take a similar course, but start from Doheny, sail up to the Headlands, and then down to the end of Beach Road to where Shafer still lives.
“It all happened in that basin,” said Sean Douglas, senior project manager for Hobie Cat Company.
As the Hobie Cat 14 and 16 gained in popularity, a 1971 article in Life Magazine helped launch the Hobie Cat into the worldwide market.
“During its heyday in the late ‘60s and ‘70s, the Hobie Cat would bring sailing to the masses around the world,” reads an article by the Surfing Heritage and Culture Center. “From California and Hawaii, to the East Coast, to inland lakes and rivers around the country, to further afield in international waters.”
The Hobie Cat today remains the most popular sailboat “in the world,” according to Douglas.
“There’s more Hobie Cats out there than any other sailboat.” he said.
Remembering Hobie
Other little-known aspects of Alter’s life:
- He developed a radio-controlled glider that had a 10-foot wingspan.
- He was businessman early in the surfwear apparel industry, investing in Ocean Pacific.
- He dabbled in real estate and kept a stable of racehorses.
- He was an avid skier and an expert tandem surfer.
When Alter retired, he designed and built a 60-foot catamaran that he regularly took on ocean adventures to Alaska.
He received the Waterman Achievement award from the Surfing Industry Manufacturers Association in 1993 and was inducted into the Surfing Walk of Fame in 1997. He was an inaugural member of the National Sailing Hall of Fame in 2011.
He spent his later years on Orcas Island off the coast of Washington in summer months and Palm Desert during the winter, where he passed away in 2014 at the age of 80 after a bout with cancer.
Alter’s memorial at Doheny State Beach that year attracted not just surfers, but sailors who brought out Hobie Cats in his honor.
These days, launching boats from Doheny State Beach is illegal, though a special permit from the state will allow Saturday’s event to set sail.
An exhibit at Doheny on Saturday will pay homage to the inventor, who will soon also be memorialized with a statue in a nearby park along with other early influencers who helped put Dana Point on the map.
The celebration kicks off Friday night from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Hobie Surf Shop in Dana Point for a “Special Memories Party.”
When: Saturday, Oct. 27, 8 a.m. Race begins at noon.
Where: Doheny State Beach, Dana Point
More information: Registration is filled, but the event is free and open to the public. Visit hobie.com