106-502: Hobie Cat is a company that manufactures watercraft and other products as the Hobie Cat Company. "Hobie Cat" can also refer to specific products of the company, notably its sailing catamarans . Its fiberglass catamaran models range in nominal length between 14 feet (4.3 m) and 18 feet (5.5 m). Rotomolded catamaran models range in length between 12 feet (3.7 m) and 17 feet (5.2 m). Other sailing vessels in
212-553: A D-PN of 74.0 and the Sport version had 74.5. The 21SC (for Sport Cruiser) was Hobie Cat's first 'family boat'. Intended for casual sailing, this boat has a front trampoline, wings, an outboard motor -mount, and a built-in cooler . Though larger than the Getaway at 21 ft (6.4 m) long, 8 ft 6 in (2.59 m) wide, with a 29 ft (8.8 m) mast and 222 sq ft (21 m) of sail, it could be raced off
318-414: A hull speed of 7.44 kn (14 km/h). In a 1994 review, Richard Sherwood, described the boat, "This boat is Hobie Alter’s first venture into monohulls and off-shore boats. She is ultra-light-displacement and designed for one-design racing, but will sleep two couples. The 33 tends to sail well heeled. The narrow beam is required so the boat can be trailered. The keel is lifted for trailering, and it
424-591: A moon pool between the hulls. Two Cold War-era submarine rescue ships , USS Pigeon and USS Ortolan of the US Navy , were also catamarans, but did not have the moon pool feature. The use of catamarans as high-speed naval transport was pioneered by HMAS Jervis Bay , which was in service with the Royal Australian Navy between 1999 and 2001. The US Military Sealift Command now operates several Expeditionary Fast Transport catamarans owned by
530-463: A one-design racer. It was developed to be a bigger, more stable upgrade to the Hobie 14, designed for a crew of two. The boat is 16 ft 7 in (5.05 m) long, 7 ft 11 in (2.41 m) wide, has a mast 26 ft 6 in (8.08 m) tall, and weighs 320 lb (150 kg). As with the 14 , it is intended to be sailed from the beach through the surf, and to be surfed back in on
636-439: A 27 ft 7 in (8.41 m) mast and 168 sq ft (15.6 m) of sail area (200 ft or 18.6 m with the jib). Both models had swinging centerboards and 'wings'. The uni-rig or catboat sail plan allows the 17SE to 'point' well, or sail closer to straight upwind than many other sloop -rigged catamarans. The Hobie 17 was discontinued in 2003. The Hobie 17 had a Portsmouth Number of 783. The SE version had
742-465: A 31 ft (9.4 m) mast, weighed 420 lb (190 kg), and had a D-PN of 65.0. The Hobie 20 was discontinued in 2007 after a 16 year production run. The Miracle 20 was designed by Jack Groeneveld, a Dutch catamaran sailor (European champion Prindle 19, winner of the Prindle 19 nationals etc.) The Hobie TriFoiler was one of the fastest production sailboats ever created. Introduced in 1994, it
848-410: A 33 ft (10 m) mast and 300 sq ft (28 m). of sail. It weighs 700 lb (320 kg) and has a D-PN of 67.0. It had arched, curved crossbars. It was raced as a one design boat in professional racing circuits. The boat is fast and stable but probably saw low production numbers because of its weight, the need to telescope the hulls for trailering and because it is difficult to right
954-474: A D-PN of 74.5. The 21SC was quickly displaced by the more rugged, cheaper Getaway and has been phased out by Hobie Cat. The 21SE hulls are similar to the 21SC but the similarities end there, the 21SE is a performance oriented boat. It is no longer in production but it had a beam of nearly 10 ft (3.0 m), and 14 ft (4.3 m) with the wings. The boat was intended for a racing crew of two or three adults. It also had centreboards instead of daggerboards
1060-591: A D-PN of 83.3. The Hobie Tattoo or "T2" was a "performance oriented" ABS boat, sold primarily in Europe, though a few were sold in the US before the boat was ultimately discontinued. The Hobie Holder boats were originally Designed by Ron Holder and produced by Vagabond sailboats, which was later bought by the Coast Catamaran Corporation (Hobie Cat) and sold under the Hobie brand name in the 1980s. It
1166-459: A Hobie Cat Europe import, was Hobie Cat's entry into the Formula 18 multihull class. The Tiger was very popular and successful both in class racing and Formula 18. At 18 ft (5.5 m) long, 8 ft 6 in (2.59 m) wide, with a 29 ft 6 in (8.99 m) mast and 227 sq ft (21 m) of sail area (452 sq ft (42 m) with the spinnaker). It weighs in at
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#17327901387281272-408: A boat. Choosing a catamaran offers increased speed at the expense of reduced load per unit of cost. Howard and Doane describe the following tradeoffs between cruising monohulls and catamarans: A long-distance, offshore cruising monohull may be as short as 30 feet (9.1 m) for a given crew complement and supporting supplies, whereas a cruising catamaran would need to be 40 feet (12 m) to achieve
1378-473: A capacity of 5 U.S. gallons (19 L; 4.2 imp gal). There is a sink fed by pumped water, vanity and space for a portable-type head to be installed. Sleeping accommodations are provided for five people on a bow "V"-berth, two under-cockpit single berths and one main cabin settee berth. There are six port fixed lights in a tapered shape and a forward acrylic plastic hatch for ventilation. The cockpit has two sheet winches and all lines, including
1484-507: A catamaran design to accommodate the vessel's stealth features. The Tuo Chiang-class corvette is a class of Taiwanese -designed fast and stealthy multi-mission wave-piercing catamaran corvettes first launched in 2014 for the Republic of China (Taiwan) Navy . Hobie 33 The Hobie 33 is an American trailerable sailboat that was designed by Hobie Alter and Phil Edwards as one-design racer and first built in 1982. It
1590-531: A catamaran's two hulls ranges from a simple frame strung with webbing to support the crew to a bridging superstructure incorporating extensive cabin or cargo space. Catamarans from Oceania and Maritime Southeast Asia became the inspiration for modern catamarans. Until the 20th century catamaran development focused primarily on sail-driven concepts. The word "catamaran" is derived from the Tamil word, kattumaram (கட்டுமரம்), which means "logs bound together" and
1696-414: A conventional catamaran. They are distinguished from SWATH catamarans, in that the buoyant part of the hull is not tubular. The spanning bridge deck may be configured with some of the characteristics of a normal V-hull, which allows it to penetrate the crests of waves. Wave-piercing catamaran designs have been employed for yachts, passenger ferries, and military vessels. A catamaran configuration fills
1802-466: A different place/by a different fleet each year. Racing of Hobie catamarans is conducted in a large number of countries around the world, with 20 countries sending their top two teams to Hobie worlds every year. The Hobie 16 has large racing fleets in Europe, North America, Australia, Asia, South America and in the islands of Oceania such as New Caledonia and Fiji. Racing is a mix between casual/recreational races and highly competitive regattas, depending on
1908-405: A displacement of 4,000 lb (1,814 kg), it has a 7/8 fractional sloop rig with aluminum spars, a raked stem , a reverse transom , an internally mounted spade-type rudder controlled by a tiller and a fixed fin keel or lifting keel with a bulb weight. It displaces 4,000 lb (1,814 kg) and carries 1,900 lb (862 kg) of lead ballast. The lifting keel version of
2014-433: A fully battened mainsail and rolling/furling jib. A double trapeze system is also standard equipment on the Hobie 18. Hobie introduced "wing seats" for the Hobie 18 in the early 1980s with wings that extended from the front to rear crossbar. These later became known as "magnum" wings when Hobie introduced the Hobie 18SX in 1987 which featured a taller mast and longer wings, which extended approx. 20 in (0.51 m) beyond
2120-576: A hero's welcome in France. In 1939, he published his experiences in a book, Kaimiloa , which was translated into English in 1940. Roland and Francis Prout experimented with catamarans in 1949 and converted their 1935 boat factory in Canvey Island , Essex (England), to catamaran production in 1954. Their Shearwater catamarans easily won races against monohulls. Yellow Bird, a 1956-built Shearwater III , raced successfully by Francis Prout in
2226-405: A higher efficiency per unit of payload for monohulls. Two advances over the traditional catamaran are the small-waterplane-area twin hull (SWATH) and the wave-piercing configuration—the latter having become a widely favored design. SWATH reduces wave-generating resistance by moving displacement volume below the waterline, using a pair of tubular, submarine-like hulls, connected by pylons to
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#17327901387282332-400: A lattice scaffold. The frame of the tourist catamaran can be made of both aluminum (duralumin) pipes and from felled tree trunks. The inflatable part has two layers—an airtight balloon with inflation holes and a shell made of dense tissue, protecting the balloon from mechanical damage. Advantages of such catamarans are light weight, compactness and convenience in transportation (the whole product
2438-491: A minimum of 396 lb (180 kg) as to conform to the Formula 18 specifications. The class D-PN is 62.1. Though originally only available in Europe, many were imported and sold in the US. At its introduction, it was a very competitive F18 boat, but had been eclipsed by newer F18 designs by the end of its production run. The Hobie Fox was designed by Hobie Cat Europe to meet the Formula 20 racing class rules. The hull shape
2544-612: A multihull steel vessel named Binave (Twin Ship), a new type of catamaran which was constructed and tested in Bilbao ( Spain ) in 1918. The innovative design included two 30 HP Hispano-Suiza marine engines and could modify its configuration when sailing , positioning two rudders at the stern of each float, with the propellers also placed aft . In 1936, Eric de Bisschop built a Polynesian "double canoe" in Hawaii and sailed it home to
2650-400: A niche where speed and sea-kindliness is favored over bulk capacity. In larger vessels, this niche favors car ferries and military vessels for patrol or operation in the littoral zone. Recreational and sport catamarans typically are designed to have a crew of two and be launched and landed from a beach. Most have a trampoline on the bridging structure, a rotating mast and full-length battens on
2756-586: A seaway. The Swiss-registered wave-piercing catamaran, Tûranor PlanetSolar , which was launched in March 2010, is the world's largest solar powered boat. It completed a circumnavigation of the globe in 2012. The 1970s saw the introduction of catamarans as high-speed ferries , as pioneered by Westermoen Hydrofoil in Mandal , Norway, which launched the Westamaran design in 1973. The Stena Voyager
2862-469: A series of dinghies (Hobie Hawk, Hobie Holder 12, Hobie Holder 14, Hobie Holder 17 & Hobie Holder 20) and monohulls in the 1980s and 1990s, including a 33 foot keelboat ( Hobie 33 ), all of which were quite successful, though they never reached the same popularity as their signature catamarans and were discontinued not long thereafter. In 1989, the Hobie Cat Company was split between Hobie Cat Company (North America) and Hobie Cat Europe and sold separately,
2968-675: A smaller hydrodynamic resistance than comparable monohulls, requiring less propulsive power from either sails or motors. The catamaran's wider stance on the water can reduce both heeling and wave-induced motion, as compared with a monohull, and can give reduced wakes. Catamarans were invented by the Austronesian peoples , and enabled their expansion to the islands of the Indian and Pacific Oceans . Catamarans range in size from small sailing or rowing vessels to large naval ships and roll-on/roll-off car ferries. The structure connecting
3074-480: A surfboard shop (a relatively new sport at the time) in the late 1950s, but his focus changed in 1961 towards designing an easily beached, fiberglass catamaran . The impetus of this shift is attributed to a 1961 boat show in Anaheim, California , where Alter sold surfboards adjacent to the designer of the 1961 Aqua Cat 12 sailboat, which featured lightweight fiberglass hulls with an aluminium tube structure supporting
3180-442: A total sail area of 215 sq ft (20.0 m). It was the largest multihull boat built by Hobie Cat, with 170 produced between 1995 and 1999; another 30 were built independently prior to production starting at Hobie Cat. Production ceased because of limited popularity; the boat was expensive and fragile, and could be used only in low-wave conditions with winds between 10 and 25 mph (16 and 40 km/h). The Hobie Tiger ,
3286-464: A trampoline style deck for seating. Following the 1961 boat show, Alter contacted Arthur "Art" Javes to tell him he was also entering the fledgling catamaran market. The first production Hobie Cat was launched on July 4, 1968 and featured a structure similar to the Aqua Cat, but slightly heavier with asymmetrically-shaped hulls that did not rely on dagger boards. This design was more readily beached than
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3392-533: A trimaran, replacing its soft sail rig with a towering wing sail —the largest sailing wing ever built. In the waters off Valencia , Spain in February 2010, the BMW Oracle Racing trimaran with its powerful wing sail proved to be superior. This represented a break from the traditional monohulls that had always been sailed in previous America's Cup series. On San Francisco Bay, the 2013 America's Cup
3498-475: A unirig design with a single sail, designed to be sailed solo or "singlehanded." Hobie later introduced the Hobie 14 "Turbo" or the "turbo" conversion kit, which added a roller furling jib, trapeze and dolphin striker. No longer manufactured by Hobie North America, the Hobie 14 was discontinued in North America in 2004, but is still produced in limited numbers by Hobie Europe and Hobie Brazil. The Hobie 14
3604-629: Is (as of 2014) the fastest passenger ship in service. The first warship to be propelled by a steam engine, named Demologos or Fulton and built in the United States during the War of 1812 , was a catamaran with a paddle wheel between her hulls. In the early 20th Century several catamarans were built as submarine salvage ships: SMS Vulkan and SMS Cyclop of Germany , Kommuna of Russia , and Kanguro of Spain , all designed to lift stricken submarines by means of huge cranes above
3710-409: Is a 33 ft (10 m) monohull lift-keel boat designed to be very light and very fast. It is considered a ULDB or ultralight displacement boat , a sportsboat . It was intended to be a trailerable, one design racer/cruiser. To be trailerable in all US states without special overwidth road permits, beam was kept to just 8 ft (2.4 m), which is quite narrow for a boat of this length, although
3816-603: Is a type of single-hulled raft made of three to seven tree trunks lashed together. The term has evolved in English usage to refer to unrelated twin-hulled vessels. Catamaran-type vessels were an early technology of the Austronesian peoples . Early researchers like Heine-Geldern (1932) and Hornell (1943) once believed that catamarans evolved from outrigger canoes , but modern authors specializing in Austronesian cultures like Doran (1981) and Mahdi (1988) now believe it to be
3922-493: Is almost entirely due to surface friction. When boat speed increases and waves are generated the resistance is dependent on several design factors, particularly hull displacement to length and hull separation to length ratio, it is a non trivial resistance curve with many small peaks as wave trains at various speeds combine and cancel For powered catamarans, this implies smaller power plants (although two are typically required). For sailing catamarans, low forward resistance allows
4028-523: Is designed with room for up to 6 people, more than Hobie Cat's other boats. The boat has a trampoline both forward and aft of the mast, and is the only rotomolded Hobie to come stock with a jib and have an available trapeze . At 16 ft 7 in (5.05 m), the Getaway is the same length as the Hobie 16 ; the beam is 7 ft 8 in (2.34 m) and the mast is 25 ft (7.6 m) tall. It has
4134-641: Is not as smooth or light as those produced using fiberglass. After perfecting the rotomolded technique on a series small kayaks the company offered their first rotomolded catamaran, the Hobie Wave in 1994. The largest of the rotomolded catamarans, the Hobie Getaway was launched in 2000, then the smallest, the Hobie Bravo was launched in 2001. Hobie also introduced their “mirage drive” on their kayaks in 1997, designed to quickly and efficiently propel
4240-404: Is often praised for being rugged and easy to sail. While described as slow and underpowered by catamaran standards, it has a D-PN of 92.1, similar to a Laser (dinghy) that is often considered to be a performance dinghy. Although marketed as a recreational sailboat, an owner-controlled racing class has organized and held regattas since 1998. The Hobie Getaway is marketed as a "social boat" and
4346-472: Is packed in one pack-backpack, suitable for air traffic standards) and the speed of assembly (10–15 minutes for the inflation). All-inflatable models are available in North America. A cata-raft design has been used on the Colorado River to handle heavy whitewater, yet maintain a good speed through the water. Cruising sailors must make trade-offs among volume, useful load, speed, and cost in choosing
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4452-513: Is very sensitive to weight placement fore and aft as a result of the banana hull shape. In rough water, strong winds or weight placed too far forward, the leeward bow is somewhat prone to "dig in," resulting in what is known asa "pitchpole." The Hobie 14 has a D-PN of 86.4 with the Turbo version faster at 83.1. Hobie introduced the Hobie 16 in 1969, and it went on to become the most popular catamaran ever built, both for recreational sailing and as
4558-474: The Comoros , retained the twin-hull and the single outrigger canoe types, but the technology for double outriggers never reached them (although it exists in western Melanesia ). To deal with the problem of the instability of the boat when the outrigger faces leeward when tacking, they instead developed the shunting technique in sailing, in conjunction with reversible single-outriggers. Despite their being
4664-443: The halyards , lead to the cockpit. A 838 sq ft (77.9 m ) spinnaker can be used for downwind sailing. The genoa employs a headfoil (a headsail airfoil -shaped reinforcement) and a concealed backstay adjuster. The mainsheet and the boom vang both have 4:1 mechanical advantages. There is a topping lift and an internal outhaul line. The design has a Portsmouth Yardstick racing average handicap of 73.0 and
4770-434: The waterline length is too speed-dependent to be meaningful—as with a planing hull. It uses a reference length, the cubic root of the volumetric displacement of the hull, V , where u is the relative flow velocity between the sea and ship, and g is acceleration due to gravity : Calm water transportation efficiency of a vessel is proportional to the full-load displacement and the maximum calm-water speed, divided by
4876-544: The 1960s, is in the collection of the National Maritime Museum Cornwall . Prout Catamarans , Ltd. designed a mast aft rig with the mast aft of midships to support an enlarged jib—more than twice the size of the design's reduced mainsail; it was produced as the Snowgoose model. The claimed advantage of this sail plan was to diminish any tendency for the bows of the vessel to dig in. In
4982-418: The 1980s & 90s or moving towards rotomolded boats, SUPs and kayaks, which Hobie focused on heavily in the 2000s. Hobie Europe is responsible for all of Hobie’s Formula 18 and Formula 20 boat designs, as well as several other race and youth sailing boats. Most of Hobie Europe’s production line was not made available in the US, except to owners willing to pay to have them imported. Notable exceptions included
5088-414: The Aqua Cat or Pacific Cat. In 1969, Hobie released the Hobie 16 , their most popular catamaran and the world's largest one-design catamaran class. Over 135,000 Hobie 16 Cats have been built. This was followed by many other similar beachcats in the 1970s and 80s as the popularity of sailing and Hobie Cats especially exploded… Hobie introduced the Hobie 18 in 1976, the Hobie 17 in 1985, the Hobie 21 in 1987,
5194-533: The FX-One is 17 ft 8 in (5.38 m) long, with a 27 ft 9 in (8.46 m) mast and 172 sq ft (16.0 m) of mainsail area, 3.98 m (42.8 sq ft) of jib area, 17.5 m (188 sq ft) of gennaker area, and weighs in at 326 ft (99 m) with the dual crew set-up. It features wavepiercing hulls, and daggerboards. The D-PN is listed as 70.1 without spinnaker and 68.5 singlehanded with spinnaker. The Hobie Pacific
5300-460: The Hobie 16 and 14. The Hobie Class Association consider the Hobie 18 the most versatile of all the Hobie beachcats. The Hobie 18 was designed to be not only fast but also rugged. It is designed to be sailed by a crew of two, but can easily carry four passengers when cruising. Experienced sailors can sail the Hobie 18 solo. Unlike the Hobie 14 and 16, the Hobie 18 has symmetrical hulls, using daggerboards to maintain course stability. The boat features
5406-530: The Hobie 16, rotomolded boats and kayaks). The Hobie Cat Company was sold in March 2021 to venture capitalists , including Maynard Industries. In November 2022, Hobie entered an agreement with Starting Line Sailing to produce Hobie 16s in Bristol, RI , after production had lagged significantly due in part to supply chain and logistics issues during the COVID-19 pandemic . On December 12, 2023, that arrangement
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#17327901387285512-523: The Hobie 17 & 18, then the Hobie 21SC, Hobie 14, Hobie 20 and Hobie Bravo, as the sailing market contracted and the boats were no longer selling enough to justify continued production. Sailboat sales lagged behind kayaks, thanks in part to the popularity of the mirage drive and Hobie’s rugged, high quality recreational and fishing-focused designs. Hobie continued to support all of the discontinued boats with parts and accessories, in many cases for decades after discontinuation. As of 17 October 2024,
5618-482: The Hobie 18SX in 1989, the Hobie 17 Sport in 1990, the Hobie 20 in 1991, and the Hobie 21 Sport Cruiser in 1992. In 1996, Hobie introduced the Pursuit kayak, the first of a new generation of boats built using rotomolded polyethylene. This production method is less expensive and time consuming than the fiberglass molds used in the original series of catamarans, and results in a very strong and durable hull, but one which
5724-502: The Hobie 33 was advertised as being capable of sleeping 7 people. A total of 187 Hobie 33s were built between 1982 and 1986. The design was the brainchild of Hobie Alter and Sheldon Coleman Sr. To start the project a Bill Lee designed ULDB Santa Cruz 27 named "Redline" was purchased, analyzed and then raced in southern California. Once the design stage started Lewie and John Wake were brought in to lend racing yacht design experience. Hobie 18 designer and legendary surfer Phil Edwards designed
5830-486: The Hobie 33 was first in the doublehanded division of Transpacific Yacht Race and went on to win its class against fully crewed boats. The Hobie Class Association organizes regattas for multiple classes of Hobie cat all around the world. In North America, the continent is divided into 16 divisions, with several fleets in each division, in order to help sailors find regattas and events near them, but there are no regional restrictions on who can compete where. Indeed, many of
5936-510: The Hobie Cat lineup include, monocats , dinghies , and trimarans , ranging in length between 9 feet (2.7 m) and 20 feet (6.1 m). Its largest product was the Hobie 33 , 33 feet (10 m) in length. The company's non-sailing product line includes surfboards , kayaks , stand-up paddle boards , pedalboards, eyeware, and e-bikes . It was founded in 1961 by Hobart (Hobie) Alter , who originally manufactured surfboards. Alter opened
6042-484: The Hobie Tiger and Hobie Wildcat, which were eventually offered in the US to compete with F18 offerings from Nacra, as the popularity of F18 racing in the US grew. Hobie Europe also built their own variant of the Hobie 18 which featured pivoting/retractable centerboards instead of daggerboards. Hobie Europe also spawned a further subdivision, Hobie Australasia, in 2000. In 1995, The Hobie Cat Company (North America)
6148-417: The Hobie Tiger, per F18 box rules. The boat features wave-piercing bows, a flat bottom in the stern for better planing, and high aspect ratio mainsail & daggerboards. This series of boats is created of rotomolded polyethylene plastic and is intended for casual and new sailors. These can be split into two main categories, Hobie Cat USA rotomolded boats and Hobie Cat Europe rotomoulded boats. The boats from
6254-557: The Tenasserim Provinces for several years". Later that century, the American Nathanael Herreshoff constructed a twin-hulled sailing boat of his own design (US Pat. No. 189,459). The craft, Amaryllis , raced at her maiden regatta on June 22, 1876, and performed exceedingly well. Her debut demonstrated the distinct performance advantages afforded to catamarans over the standard monohulls. It
6360-560: The US Navy commissioned the construction of a SWATH ship to test the configuration. SWATH vessels compare with conventional powered catamarans of equivalent size, as follows: Wave-piercing catamarans (strictly speaking they are trimarans , with a central hull and two outriggers) employ a low-buoyancy bow on each hull that is pointed at the water line and rises aft, up to a level, to allow each hull to pierce waves, rather than ride over them. This allows higher speeds through waves than for
6466-586: The US Navy; they are used for high speed transport of military cargo, and to get into shallow ports. The Makar -class is a class of two large catamaran-hull survey ships built for the Indian Navy . As of 2012, one vessel, INS Makar (J31) , was in service and the second was under construction. First launched in 2004 at Shanghai, the Houbei class missile boat of the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) has
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#17327901387286572-588: The US include the Bravo , Wave and Getaway , whilst the European range consists of the Catsy, Teddy, Twixxy, Max and Tattoo or "T2". The Bravo is the smallest the Hobie rotomolded catamarans at 12 ft (3.7 m) and is intended for one person but can carry two. The relatively narrow beam (4 ft 5 in (1.35 m)) compared to its 19 ft (5.8 m) mast leads to considerable heeling , or tipping of
6678-409: The US, and many are raced at local regattas as well. The Hobie Wave is a quickly growing segment of the racing community, appreciated by competitors a simple, easy to handle, easy to rig and easy to sail single-handed boat. Discontinued boats have typically a much smaller turnout and tend to be much more casual to race. Hobie Nationals and Hobie Worlds tend to rotate around the country/globe, hosted in
6784-553: The boat compared to other catamarans. The Bravo has the distinction of being able to furl its sail around the mast. The D-PN is 100.0. The Hobie Wave is intended for one to four passengers, but is easily handled by one with its 13 ft (4.0 m) length, 7 ft (2.1 m) beam, and 20 ft (6.1 m) mast. The Wave was designed by the Morelli/Melvin Engineering firm, and has proved to be extremely popular with beach resorts and rental operations. It
6890-525: The boat if it capsizes without outside assistance. Introduced in 1991, the Miracle 20 has 250 sq ft (23 m) of sail area and high aspect ratio mylar sails, as yet another significant performance improvement over the Hobie 18. The Hobie 20 eliminated the hull lip, a significant source of drag, and moved towards higher aspect ratio sails and daggerboards. The 20 was 19 ft 6 in (5.94 m) long, 8 ft 6 in (2.59 m) wide, with
6996-442: The boats through the water, while still allowing shallow draft operation, as the drive “folds up” against the bottom of the hull when not in use. Hobie kayaks began to quickly outsell the catamarans in the 2000s, and became a significant focus of the company, with Hobie introducing fishing and sailing variants, along with SUPs (first introduced in 2005). Hobie discontinued many of its catamaran designs starting in 2003, initially with
7102-414: The bridge deck with a narrow waterline cross-section. The submerged hulls are minimally affected by waves. The SWATH form was invented by Canadian Frederick G. Creed , who presented his idea in 1938 and was later awarded a British patent for it in 1946. It was first used in the 1960s and 1970s as an evolution of catamaran design for use as oceanographic research vessels or submarine rescue ships. In 1990,
7208-490: The catamaran has an initial resistance to heeling that is seven times that of the monohull. Compared with a monohull, a cruising catamaran sailboat has a high initial resistance to heeling and capsize—a fifty-footer requires four times the force to initiate a capsize than an equivalent monohull. One measure of the trade-off between speed and carrying capacity is the displacement Froude number (Fn V ) , compared with calm water transportation efficiency . Fn V applies when
7314-520: The class of boat and fleet hosting the regatta. Catamaran A catamaran ( / ˌ k æ t ə m ə ˈ r æ n / ) (informally, a "cat") is a watercraft with two parallel hulls of equal size. The wide distance between a catamaran's hulls imparts stability through resistance to rolling and overturning; no ballast is required. Catamarans typically have less hull volume, smaller displacement , and shallower draft (draught) than monohulls of comparable length. The two hulls combined also often have
7420-409: The corresponding power required. Large merchant vessels have a Fn V between one and zero, whereas higher-performance powered catamarans may approach 2.5, denoting a higher speed per unit volume for catamarans. Each type of vessel has a corresponding calm water transportation efficiency, with large transport ships being in the range of 100–1,000, compared with 11-18 for transport catamarans, denoting
7526-400: The crossbars for more flexibility on weight placement. The SX model featured a 19 in (0.48 m) taller mast, higher aspect mylar sails. Wings of both types, magnum and SX, are in much demand today due to the added comfort and space provided. They add about 40 lb (18 kg). Much to the dismay of many Hobie enthusiasts, the Hobie 18 is currently no longer produced. The Hobie 17
7632-408: The design uses a "bolt-down" style of keel, It has a draft of 5.50 ft (1.68 m) with the lifting keel extended and 1.83 ft (0.56 m) with it retracted, allowing ground transportation on a trailer . It has a very narrow beam of 8.00 ft (2.44 m) to meet the legal requirements for highway trailer widths. It mast is hinged at the mast step and the spinnaker pole is used to raise
7738-414: The hulls out of the water at wind speeds of 10–11 mph (16–18 km/h), allowing the boat to reach speeds up to 45 mph (72 km/h) and pull over 2 g in gybe turns. The TriFoiler was 22 ft (6.7 m) long, 19 ft (5.8 m) wide, weighed 145 kg (320 lb), and was sailed from a "cockpit" by two people. The boat was fitted with two 18 ft (5.5 m) tall masts, with
7844-569: The keel and rudder. There is an active North American class association and national championships yearly. The Hobie 33 is still a competitive offshore sailing yacht and as recently as 2006, 'Mad Max' was the Overall Winner in the Newport to Ensenada International Yacht Race , beating vessels of all lengths from 26–90 ft (7.9–27.4 m) on corrected time using the PHRF formula. In 2005,
7950-470: The latter of which began operating independently and designing and producing its own catamarans. The two companies shared worldwide production & distribution rights to the Hobie Cat designs, but otherwise operated as separate entities. Hobie Cat Europe went on to introduce many race oriented catamaran designs and has been the impetus behind most of the “modernization” of Hobie’s production line, with most of Hobie North America’s designs remaining fixed since
8056-399: The mainsail. Performance versions often have trapezes to allow the crew to hike out and counterbalance capsize forces during strong winds on certain points of sail. For the 33rd America's Cup , both the defender and the challenger built 90-foot (27 m) long multihulls. Société Nautique de Genève , defending with team Alinghi , sailed a catamaran. The challenger, BMW Oracle Racing, used
8162-423: The mast for quick launching with a small crew. The boat is normally fitted with a small outboard motor for docking and maneuvering. The outboard is fitted into a stern well, that allows the motor to be swung up and a hatch closed to fair the opening. The galley is limited to a dish locker, an icebox under the companionway steps and provisions for an optional alcohol-fired stove. The fresh water tank has
8268-515: The mid-twentieth century, beachcats became a widespread category of sailing catamarans, owing to their ease of launching and mass production. In California, a maker of surfboards , Hobie Alter , produced the 250-pound (110 kg) Hobie 14 in 1967, and two years later the larger and even more successful Hobie 16 . As of 2016, the Hobie 16 was still being produced with more than 100,000 having been manufactured. Catamarans were introduced to Olympic sailing in 1976. The two-handed Tornado catamaran
8374-477: The more "primitive form" of outrigger canoes, they were nonetheless effective, allowing seafaring Polynesians to voyage to distant Pacific islands . The following is a list of traditional Austronesian catamarans: The first documented example of twin-hulled sailing craft in Europe was designed by William Petty in 1662 to sail faster, in shallower waters, in lighter wind, and with fewer crew than other vessels of
8480-405: The opposite. Two canoes bound together developed directly from minimal raft technologies of two logs tied together. Over time, the twin-hulled canoe form developed into the asymmetric double canoe, where one hull is smaller than the other. Eventually the smaller hull became the prototype outrigger , giving way to the single outrigger canoe, then to the reversible single outrigger canoe. Finally,
8586-479: The production line consists of the Hobie 16, Hobie Wave, Hobie Getaway, and Hobie Mirage Island, and Hobie Tandem Island, along with numerous kayak and SUP models. Hobie Alter sold the Hobie Cat Company to the Coleman Company in 1975. In 1982, Coast Catamaran (The official name of the Hobie Cat Company at that time) bought dinghy company Vagabond and its line of dinghy designs from Ron Holder and produced
8692-443: The racing versions recording well over 400 nautical miles (460 mi; 740 km) per day. In addition, they do not heel more than 10-12 degrees, even at full speed on a reach. Powered cruising catamarans share many of the amenities found in a sail cruising catamaran. The saloon typically spans two hulls wherein are found the staterooms and engine compartments. As with sailing catamarans, this configuration minimizes boat motion in
8798-410: The sails to derive power from attached flow , their most efficient mode—analogous to a wing—leading to the use of wingsails in racing craft. Catamarans rely primarily on form stability to resist heeling and capsize. Comparison of heeling stability of a rectangular-cross section monohull of beam, B , compared with two catamaran hulls of width B /2, separated by a distance, 2× B , determines that
8904-439: The same capacity. In addition to greater speed, catamarans draw less water than do monohulls— as little as 3 feet (0.91 m) —and are easier to beach. Catamarans are harder to tack and take up more space in a marina. Cruising catamarans entail added expense for having two engines and two rudders. Tarjan adds that cruising catamarans boats can maintain a comfortable 300 nautical miles (350 mi; 560 km) per day passage, with
9010-401: The same popularity as their catamarans and were discontinued after a handful of years. The Hobie 14 was the original catamaran designed by Hobie Alter in 1968. The 14 was originally designed to be sailed from the beach through the surf and back, with features to make sailing on and off the beach easier, such as the iconic "banana" shaped hull profile, kick-up rudders and asymmetric hulls. It's
9116-572: The single outrigger types developed into the double outrigger canoe (or trimarans ). This would also explain why older Austronesian populations in Island Southeast Asia tend to favor double outrigger canoes, as it keeps the boats stable when tacking . But they still have small regions where catamarans and single-outrigger canoes are still used. In contrast, more distant outlying descendant populations in Oceania , Madagascar , and
9222-605: The time. However, the unusual design met with skepticism and was not a commercial success. The design remained relatively unused in the West for almost 160 years until the early 19th-century, when the Englishman Mayflower F. Crisp built a two-hulled merchant ship in Rangoon, Burma . The ship was christened Original . Crisp described it as "a fast sailing fine sea boat; she traded during the monsoon between Rangoon and
9328-791: The top sailors will travel hundreds, if not thousands of miles to attend as many regattas as they can. The Hobie 16 fleet is still a highly active and highly competitive racing fleet, with Nationals and Worlds competitions/regattas drawing hundreds of competitors, often requiring separation into A fleet, B fleet & C fleet based on competitor skill level. Local regattas may have as few as 4-5 boats and be very casual affairs, or as many as 100+ boats and be highly competitive. There are several dozen Hobie fleets across North America alone which organize regattas and events, teach newcomers how to sail and race, and host parties and social events, or even just get together to sail. Hobie 14, 17, 18, 20 and Hobie Waves each have active nationals competitions every year in
9434-424: The water and greater stability (initial resistance to capsize). Choosing between a monohull and catamaran configuration includes considerations of carrying capacity, speed, and efficiency. At low to moderate speeds, a lightweight catamaran hull experiences resistance to passage through water that is approximately proportional to its speed. A displacement monohull has the same relationship at low speed since resistance
9540-590: The water. Virtually all of the new mega-cats were built of pre-preg carbon fiber for strength and the lowest possible weight. The top speeds of these boats can approach 50 knots (58 mph; 93 km/h). The Race was won by the 33.50 m (109.9 ft)-long catamaran Club Med skippered by Grant Dalton . It went round the globe in 62 days at an average speed of 18 knots (21 mph; 33 km/h). Whitewater catamaran—sometimes called "cata-rafts"—for whitewater sports are widely spread in post-Soviet countries . They consists of two inflatable hulls connected with
9646-422: The waves to the beach, with many of the same features and similar asymmetric "banana" hulls. Both jib and main sails are fully battened and total 218 sq ft (20 m). A double trapeze system comes standard on the Hobie 16. The Hobie 16 is still in production around the world. Hobie introduced the Hobie 18 in 1976 as a significant upgrade in sailing performance, tunability and capacity as compared to
9752-715: Was 194 sq ft (18.0 m). Jibsail area was 52 sq ft (4.8 m). Spinnaker area was 269 sq ft (25.0 m). With a D-PN of 60.4, the Fox was at one point the fastest of the Hobie family. The Hobie Dragoon was designed by Hobie Cat Europe as a youth trainer for racing. Age target was 12 to 14 years. Double trapeze and spinnaker option to introduce young sailors to high performance. Length: 12 ft 10 in (3.91 m), Beam: 7 ft 1 in (2.16 m), Mast Length: 21 ft (6.4 m), Sail Area: 118 sq ft (11.0 m). Main plus Jib, Weight: 230 lb (100 kg). D-PN : 83.0 The FX-One
9858-411: Was a circumnavigation challenge which departed from Barcelona, Spain, on New Year's Eve, 2000. Because of the prize money and prestige associated with this event, four new catamarans (and two highly modified ones) over 100 feet (30 m) in length were built to compete. The largest, PlayStation , owned by Steve Fossett , was 125 feet (38 m) long and had a mast which was 147 feet (45 m) above
9964-458: Was a series of monohull dinghys of various sizes from 9' 0" to 20' 0" in length. All were discontinued by the end of the decade. Previous versions were sold under the "Vagabond" name, as well as several others, such as the "Vagabond 14," "O'day 14", "Monarch 14" and "Hobie One-14." The Hobie 10 was a small dinghy produced as a response to the Laser dinghy . It has been discontinued. The Hobie 33
10070-432: Was an example of a large, fast ferry, typically traveling at a speed of 46 miles per hour (74 km/h), although it was capable of over 70 miles per hour (110 km/h). The Australian island Tasmania became the site of builders of large transport catamarans— Incat in 1977 and Austal in 1988 —each building civilian ferries and naval vessels. Incat built HSC Francisco , a High-Speed trimaran that, at 58 knots,
10176-687: Was as a result of this event, the Centennial Regatta of the New York Yacht Club, that catamarans were barred from regular sailing classes, and this remained the case until the 1970s. On June 6, 1882, three catamarans from the Southern Yacht Club of New Orleans raced a 15 nm course on Lake Pontchartrain and the winning boat in the catamaran class, Nip and Tuck , beat the fastest sloop's time by over five minutes. In 1916, Leonardo Torres Quevedo patented
10282-591: Was based on a series of boats designed by Greg and Dan Ketterman and sailed by Russel Long, which eventually culminated in Long setting the A-Class Catamaran world sailing speed record in 1992 in the boat "Longshot". That record remains unbroken. The TriFoiler is based on Longshot and this sailing hydrofoil stands as the most unusual of Hobie Cat's boats. Also designed by Greg Ketterman, this trimaran has two sails, one on each ama , and hydrofoils that lift
10388-443: Was based on the Hobie Tiger design, but had skegs instead of daggerboards, a smaller rig, and no boom. The boat was intended to be easier to handle than a F18 boat, and targeted at sailing schools. Sail area was 211 sq ft (20 m), the optional spinnaker was 200 sq ft (19 m). The Hobie Wildcat was introduced in 2009. It is Hobie's latest Formula 18 boat and has the same measurements, weight, and sail area as
10494-595: Was designed and produced by the France-based Hobie Cat Europe company. The boat was designed both for single-handed racing (mainsail + gennaker ) and dual-crew sailing ( jib + mainsail + gennaker ). In both configurations, this boat is eligible for the IHCA racing class. In the two-sailor configuration, this boat is also eligible for the Class 104 multihull class. Relatively uncommon in North America,
10600-409: Was designed by world champion A-Class sailor Nils Bunkenberg. It had a modern wave-piercing hull design. It had a double trapeze, asymmetrical spinnaker with snuffer retrieval system, high aspect ratio daggerboards, race rudders, and sails designed by Giorgio Zuccoli. It was 20 ft (6.1 m) long, had an 8 ft 6 in (2.59 m) beam and weighed 419 lb (190 kg). Mainsail area
10706-455: Was introduced in 1985 and was available in two trim 'packages': the SE and the Sport. The SE version was a unirig boat with a mainsail only and wings, and was designed to be singlehanded. The Sport version included a jib and a small boomlett that was not attached to the mast and was intended for recreational sailing by two people. It was 17 ft (5.2 m) long, 8 ft (2.4 m) wide, had
10812-486: Was sailed in 72-foot (22 m) long AC72 catamarans (craft set by the rules for the 2013 America's Cup). Each yacht employed hydrofoils and a wing sail. The regatta was won 9–8 by Oracle Team USA against the challenger, Emirates Team New Zealand , in fifteen matches because Oracle Team USA had started the regatta with a two-point penalty. Yachting has seen the development of multihulls over 100 feet (30 m) in length. " The Race " helped precipitate this trend; it
10918-731: Was selected for the multihull discipline in the Olympic Games from 1976 through 2008. It was redesigned in 2000. The foiling Nacra 17 was used in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, which were held in 2021; after the 2015 adoption of the Nacra 15 as a Youth World Championships class and as a new class for the Youth Olympic Games. Catamarans have two distinct primary performance characteristics that distinguish them from displacement monohull vessels: lower resistance to passage through
11024-435: Was sold again to a new private owner. The Hobie Cat Company purchased back Hobie Europe and its subsidiary Hobie Australasia in 2012, combining the three into one company again. Hobie Europe found itself struggling under the weight of a wide range of boat models, compared to the relatively few offerings of Hobie North America (which had discontinued much of its catamaran production at that time and consolidated production around
11130-428: Was terminated. Hobie has made a large variety of catamarans and dinghies since the company’s inception, beginning with the Hobie 14 and later the Hobie 16. They’re most famous for their fiberglass catamarans, though the company has made significant numbers of rotomolded boats beginning in the 1990s and 2000s. While the company briefly produced dinghies and monohulls in the 1980s as well, they never reached anywhere near
11236-513: Was the first monohull design for Alter and his company, after establishing their reputations for their lines of surfboards and catamarans The design was built by Hobie Cat in the United States from 1982 until 1987, with 187 examples completed, but it is now out of production. The Hobie 33 is a recreational keelboat , built predominantly of a polyester and fiberglass sandwich, with wood trim. Very light for its size with
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