Hobart Alter Quotes

Hobart Alter — American Businessman born on October 31, 1933, died on March 29, 2014

Hobart "Hobie" Alter was a surf and sailing entrepreneur and pioneer, creator of the Hobie Cat catamarans, and founder of the Hobie company... (wikipedia)

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.

Give me a few hours, and I can teach anyone how to get in and out on a Hobie. To get to the top level of competition, however, takes years. On a 16- or 18-footer, the total weight between the two people should range from 275-295, and you've gotta be a reasonably coordinated person to be any good at it.

People laughed at me for setting up a surf shop.

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.

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.

Hobart Alter Quotes

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