In 1965 the Hobie cat entered the sailing scene. The Hobie cat is a small sailing catamaran that is manufactured by the Hobie Cat company. The Hobie Cat was designed and built by Hobie Alter for the wavy rough waters of California. Though I have never had the chance to sail one in the ocean I understand the awe that comes along with sailing these amazing boats because I have sailed them in many large lakes such as lake Michigan. When I was 12 years old my father taught me to build and sail one of these magnificent creations. I was lucky enough to sail on the very boat that both my father and mother had their first date on.  This is also the boat that my father built and learned to sail from his mother. Below is an image showing an actual picture of me and my little brother on my fathers boat.

Notice how between the image above and below how calm or aggressively you can sail this boat! How cool! The image above is my little brother and I sailing at Higgs lake in Michigan. We sailed all the way across the lake, about 4 hours.

In the 1950’s, Hobie started out by making surfboards and paddle boards out of his garage in California. Before long he was setting records with his designs. “Hobie’s lineup was a veritable Who’s Who of surfing greats. Phil Edwards, Joey Cabell, Corky Carroll, Micky Munoz, Joyce Hoffman, Joey Hamasaki, Gary Propper, Billy Hamilton and Herbie Fletcher are just a few of the champions who supported the distinctive Hobie diamond logo over the years.” By the 1960’s Hobie started messing around with boats and just like surfing records being broken, soon too his boats were a huge hit. In the past four decades, more people have taken to the water on a Hobie Cat than almost any other sailboat design.

Hobie Cats are still the world’s best selling cats and it’s hard to find a body of water on any continent that doesn’t have an active Hobie racing fleet.

The greatest part about sailing and arguably the reason it is still so popular is the everything people love about being on the water without any of the crazy loud noises you get from a power boat. From personal experience, I am absolutely in-love with how quickly you can be traveling on the water without any sound! Look at the picture above, what they are doing is called “flying a hull” and it’s when you’re obviously on one hull and you’re using your body weight to counteract the wind. This is one of the most surreal experience one can every experience. In this moment all you can hear is the sound of the wind and the boat breaking water and when you turn around and look behind you you can see directly down into the water and it is absolutely amazing.

Hobie cats have always influenced a more environmentally fun way to be in the water. These boats create no pollution and are much better for the waters. I only wish more and more people would chose these boats over power boats!

Hobie. “About Us.” Hobie, www.hobie.com/about-us/.