Hobart Alter's Death

The entrepreneur Hobart Alter died at the age of 80. Here is all you want to know, and more!

Biography - A Short Wiki

Sailing pioneer most famous as the founder of the catamaran company Hobie Cat. He is credited with creating the process through which foam and fiberglass surfboards are created.

He had three children.

Quotes

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In the surfing days, that was all there was for me. Sailing, starting around ’68, it was kind of the same deal. I always got really into whatever it was I was doing.

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People laughed at me for setting up a surf shop.

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On the manufacturing side, surfing was a lot harder than sailing. You had to find guys who could shape, who could glass, and you’re looking for good people among all these surfers, you know. Keeping the quality up was always a problem.

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The team we had, the Hobie Vita-Pakt Super Surfer team, you know, the Hilton boys were on there, Conrad Hilton’s grandkids, and they were really good. After being around those kids, I could ride a little. Do a 360, some kick-turns, stuff like that.

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I took Al Unser out on a Hobie the day before he became the first auto racer to go 200 mph around a closed-circuit track. We were only going about 18 mph, and you should have seen him hanging on for dear life.