I have been sailing Hobie Cats for a few years now since joining a sailing club at Jericho Beach. They are fast and a lot of fun to sail. You usually get wet even if the waves are small. We have two in our club, a 16 foot (above) and the original Hobie 14 (below). The smaller one has only one main sail, and is made to sail alone. It's not as heavy when putting in and hauling out of the water on a dolly to and from the boat yard. The 16 has a main sail and a jib and is usually sailed by two people. Although you can trapeze (standing over the water on a raised pontoon held by a wire from a waist harness to a point high up the mast) on both of them, I have not yet learned how to do that.
Hobart "Hobie" Alter was the pioneering designer of small catamarans who mastered new boatbuilding technology of synthetic materials. He started out as a young surfer and shaper of wooden surfboards in Southern California in the late 50s. He moved on to catamarans, and wanted to design one which would be much lighter and able to be launched from the beach by one person. To keep the boat light, Alter used foam-fibreglass sandwich construction (a process he pioneered with surfboards), a trampoline for the deck and asymmetrical hulls - flat on the inboard side and curved on the outboard side - in place of centreboards to reduce lee-way. The asymmetrical concept originated in Micronesia and was used by Hawaiian catamaran designers of larger catamarans. The Hobie 14 was introduced in 1969, weighed 215 pounds with a single 115 square foot fully battened sail and it revolutionized small boat sailing.
In 1971, Alter produced the Hobie 16, a two person asymmetrical hulled, sloop rigged catamaran that became even more popular than the 14. With more than 140 000 boats built, it is the most popular small catamaran for recreational and racing purposes. You see them at beaches where people sail, all over the world. It weighs 320 pounds. Both jib and main sails are fully battened for a total of 218 sq feet. As with the 14, it is intended to be sailed from the beach through surf, and to be surfed back in on the waves to the beach. A trapeze is often used by the crew and helmsman. Several other models were introduced over the following decades, an 18 with dagger boards, a 17 foot and a 20 foot catamaran.
The early days of a Hobie 14.
trapeze sailing
A Hobie Wild Cat, the newest high performance racing machine.
A trademark of Hobie Cats that I love are the multiple colours of the spectrum on their battened sails, with a huge variety of colours from older to newer models. Most of the Hobie Cats at the Jericho Sailing centre are the classic Hobie 16s. There are also several 18 footers as well as a few newer models that I am less familiar with.
Went out one time and forgot to put the plugs in the back of the pontoons! Had to get towed back by the Jericho Sailing Centre's zodiac. "You'll never forget to put those plugs in again" they laughed as I crawled into their boat.
A newer, easier boat to sail called a Hobie Cat Wave with molded plastic hulls. It was designed for beach resorts. I have sailed them at a beach resort hotel in Cancun.
Discovery Sailing Club's recent aquisition, a Hobie 18 refurbished by a friend of mine who sold it to us. I baptized it with the name "Banana Split".
A regatta of Hobie 14s in Australia.
Amazing custom sails on boats down in Florida.
I was on a sailing trip in the Ionian islands of Greece when we came into the town and bay of Vassiliki, the home of Joe, of Joyrider TV, the famous you tuber of Hobie cat sailing.
