The long reads
Synthesized from Hotline magazine, Hobie's support pages and twenty years of forum threads, each written to keep the knowledge in one place before the sources go offline. Every claim is footnoted to its source, and the forum threads behind them are saved in this archive.
- The Hobie Cat storyHistory · about 4,700 words
From a surfboard shaper's outrigger at Poche Beach to the most-produced catamaran on earth, told largely in the words of Hobie's own 1970s magazine: the no-wind launch regatta, the backyard dealers, the invented racing circuit, the power lines, the Coleman years, and the long retreat into kayaks.
- The ComptipMast · about 5,600 words
Why every Hobie mast since 1986 has a fiberglass top, how it was invented, why owners fought it, exactly how it fails, how to fix it, and what to do now that the tips for the discontinued boats cannot be bought.
- Soft DecksHulls · about 4,700 words
What is happening inside a soft deck, how to tell a fixable spot from a dead hull, the epoxy injection repair as Hobie, the Hotline and twenty years of owners have refined it, the shortcuts that do not work, and when to walk away.
- Which Hobie Is This?Identification · about 4,100 words
How to read a hull number, date a boat that has none, tell a 14 from a Turbo, an 18 from a Magnum from an SX, a 21 SE from a Sport Cruiser, which years to seek or avoid, and a used-boat inspection checklist.
- Rig TuningTuning · about 6,100 words
Everything set on the beach: measuring and setting mast rake, shroud holes and rig tension, diamond wires and spreaders, and rudder rake and alignment, boat by boat for the 14, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21, Tiger and FX One, with a note at each setting on what it changes afloat.
- Sail Controls and PowerTuning · about 5,600 words
The strings pulled while sailing: downhaul, outhaul, mainsheet, traveler, mast rotation, jib leads and luff, battens and telltales. What each does to the sail, how to add power and shed it, and the settings by wind that the 14, 16, 17, 18 and 20 champions published.
- HandlingSailing · about 5,700 words
Driving the boat: weight and helm, tacking and the roll tack, the crew's job with the jib, breaking irons without a jib, jibing, trapezing, heavy air upwind and down, capsize and righting, and launching and landing on a beach or through surf.
Suggest the next one. The candidates on the list are a Hobie 18 crossbar and rail reinforcement guide, a rudder system and cam tuning guide, and the story of the Hobie 33.