Passing of Surf Culture Icon
When he was a young man, Hobie Alter had a clear vision of his future: He didn’t want a job that would require hard-soled shoes, and he didn’t want to work east of Pacific Coast Highway.
He succeeded.
The son of a second-generation orange grower, Alter is credited with innovations that allowed people who couldn’t lift log slabs to surf and those who couldn’t pay for yacht club memberships to sail.
Known practically everywhere with a coastline or a lake simply as “Hobie,” Alter developed the mass-produced foam surfboard. He later popularized sailing by inventing a lightweight, high-performance catamaran.
He died Saturday at his home in Palm Desert, according to an announcement posted on http://www.hobie.com, his company’s website. He was 80. The cause of death was not disclosed.
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