Hobart Alter

Who is Hobart Alter?

Hobart "Hobie" Alter, born October 31, 1933, is a founding pioneer in the surfboard shaping industry, creator of the Hobie Cat, and founder of the Hobie company. A successful surf entrepreneur, Hobie Alter is widely remembered as the man behind the development of the foam-and-fiberglass surfboard. His label, Hobie, remains one of the top-selling surfboard brands of all time. He is also the creator of the Hobie 33 ultralight-displacement sailboat and a mass-produced radio-controlled glider, the Hobie Hawk.

During summer vacation 1950 "Hobie" hit on an idea to bring together his two loves, woodshop and water. He asked his dad to pull the Desoto out of the family's Laguna Beach, California garage, and the history of surfing was about to enter a new era.

Hobie began by building 9-foot balsawood sufboards for his friends. Hobie's hobby had become a business and his dream of never owning hard-soled shoes or having to work east of California's Pacific Coast Highway was becoming a reality. A couple of years and 40 tons of sawdust later, Hobie opened up Southern California's first surf shop in Dana Point, California. Then in 1958 Hobie and his buddy Gordon "Grubby" Clark began experiments making surfboards out of foam and fiberglass. The new boards were lighter, faster and more responsive than wooden ones. Several famous surfers surfed for the Hobie Team, including Joey Cabell, Phil Edwards, Corky Carroll, Gary Propper, Peter Pan, Mickey Munoz, Joyce Hoffman and Yancy Spencer.