Wow this bings back memories. Learnt to sail on a Hobie in the late 70's on a 16'. Still hooked on multihulls. About to launch a new build trimaran this coming Summer down under. Can't wait!
Had a Hobie 18 when they first came out #1687 the 18 was so much better then the 16. Biscayne Bay and the upper Keys in Miami was my playground.I remember this film when it first came out in 1979.They rumor was they broke a few boats in Hawaii jumping those huge waves.Good times back in the day
Great clip! -- Brings back that initial excitement of my first Hobie 16 ride at 13 in the early 70's that got me hooked. After a lifetime of sailing starting with a Hobie 10 at 11 years of age, 16s then windsurfing expanding to kitesurfing. Today I find myself still in love with the sport fueled by my current Hobie Magnum 18.
I worked for Dean Froome in Kailua Hawaii at his Hobie dealership in 83-84ish. Great times! My person boat was an 18 w/ hiking racks. Amazing memories!
Quick adventure tale about those two daredevils we see at about 15:00 in - John Driscoll & Dean Froome. These characters are to Hobie Catamaran sailing what Doc Brown and Marty McFly are to time travel. At the 1981 Worrell 1000, they're flying up the Atlantic coast on a Hobie 16 as part of this multi-day 10-boat kamikaze race from Ft. Lauderdale to Virginia Beach. This event is nuts and not everyone finishes - nor are they expected to. I think a South African team had to quit after ripping a gash in the hull when they plowed into sea turtle in the middle of the night. One leg of the course to go, but there's a few days of delays at Cape Hatteras in North Carolina due to the nastiest conditions imaginable (short of a hurricane). The weather clears and on a prorated launch-time schedule, Driscoll & Froome blow out there with 3 other H16s. The opposing currents at this location in the Atlantic create a vortex of unpredictably treacherous conditions and these two are 75-100 yards offshore charging straight into the surf. They hit massive wave that drives them back so hard, the boat begins to do a backward somersault, digs in one of the rudders, and fractures it...badly. I believe the very same wave threw an adjacent boat so violently that a crewman went overboard, just for perspective. So John & Dean turn around, come ashore for an hour, and MacGyver up a quick fix before trying it again. AGAIN. Somehow or another, they get the boat through the surf this time and absolutely take off after that. They must have had this thing sailing at light speed because even after all the time it took to make repairs on the beach, AND late start time behind a few other boats, they catch and pass the three that went off with them and finish minutes behind Hobie Alter Jr's 3rd place team that left hours beforehand earlier in the day. 4th place of the 7 that by some miracle managed to actually finish the race. Absolute warriors, these guys are. Sidenote: The Australian team that won this race (not being as familiar with this hemisphere and no GPS available) had to rely on the patience of local residents at random beachfront homes who were willing to answer the door at 2am and tell them where the h3ll they were. Plus, after their rigging ripped to shreds somewhere in there, the sea-turtle crashing South Africans generously handed over their remaining equipment, enabling the Aussies to finish...and win. Talk about playing by 'prison rules.' Wacky Stuff.
I happen to see "Share the Wind 1979" the other day. I own an 1982 18, sail number 6708, which I bought in 1986 from a nice Australian chap in Silicon Valley. My 21 year old boys and I sail it mainly in the Central Valley where the water is warm. However, I race on other peoples boats out of Santa Cruz and there are more than a few people I sail with that want to take it out to surf on the cold ocean swells here, so we will see what happens in 2024. Hobie 14, 16 and 18s are great boats. The 17 to my eye did not hit it's market and the 20 seemed like a me too, addition. Forget the roto molded junk you find at the resorts today. The 33 is popular around here now, like the Tartan 10 is in the Midwest, but neither were big sellers back in the day, go figure. Now Hobie is the "kayak giant Hobie Cat"... and I think everything really has to be carbon and foil if it is in the "new" sailing market.
In the early 1980's I met Hobie in Honolulu when I was writing the boating column for the morning daily. We set up a sailing date and took off from the Outrigger Canoe Club in Waikiki on a Hobie 16. We got just outside the reef when a gust capsized us. i remember bobbing to the surface and thinking, "Are you sure you're Hobie Alter?"
This was at the same time my father bought a cat that was faster than Hobies. One of two in Australia. The other was timed at 33 knots in Sydney Harbour. It slightly preceded the Hobies in Australia.
Tornado? That was an awesome catamaran. NACRA Made some good ones, and Prindle 16 was an improvement of the Hobie Cats by increasing freeboard. But Hobie was the original pioneer. I think I had a Hobie skateboard in the 1970's... and I remember Hobie surfboards.
