The Global Paddling Community

Originating from a few simple drawings and an innovative eye, Hobie Alter and his band of likeminded friends developed the Hobie Cat 14 in 1968. The Hobie 14 took a sport, sailing, that had been historically too difficult or too expensive for most people to participate in and made it easy. As the popularity for the Hobie 14 grew beyond the beaches of Dana Point, so did the need for increased production, ultimately leading to the creation of the Hobie Cat Company. The Hobie 14 spawned a community of catamaran enthusiasts across the globe, and kept Hobie’s innovative heritage alive and thriving..

Just as Hobie Alter had done via his revolutionary improvements to the surfboard in the ‘50s, the Hobie Cat Company re-imagined sports as varied as remote-controlled glider flying to hands-free kayaking to stand-up pedalboards,in a way that made them far more accessible, enjoyable, and performance-based, creating legions of new enthusiasts along the way.