Hobie Alter, A Legend In Surfing And Sailing, Dies At 80

Hobie Alter, an innovator whose ideas brought surfing and sailing to wide audiences, died this weekend. Here, one of his Hobie Cat sailboats is seen sailing past North Head in Sydney, Australia.

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Originally published on March 31, 2014 12:08 pm

Hobie Alter, whose innovations helped thousands of people go surfing and sailing, died in California on Saturday at age 80. In the 1950s, Alter helped perfect a foam-core surfboard that revolutionized the sport. A decade later, his iconic Hobie Cat catamaran design opened the world of sailing to a wider audience.

Alter died after a long fight with cancer, according to the Orange County Register. Reflecting his legacy in two sports, his name is included in both the HuntingtonBeach Surfing Walk of Fame and the National Sailing Hall of Fame.

Surfer magazine highlights this video of Alter as a young man, when he often surfed in singles and tandem competitions; it was produced by the Encyclopedia of Surfing:

"In discussing the future with friends as a young man Hobie declared that he wanted to make a living without having to wear hard-soled shoes or work east of California's Pacific Coast Highway," according to a remembrance posted on the Hobie Cat company website.

Alter achieved that simple goal by a wide margin, establishing a business that could mass-produce cheaper and lighter surfboards with foam cores than those that had previously been made with balsa wood. His breakthrough came in 1958, working alongside his friend Gordon "Grubby" Clark.

The Hobie surfboard brand