What is a Hobie?
Hobie is short for a Hobie Cat catamaran sailboat. A catamaran has two hulls for stability. A hull is that thing that sits in the water and floats. (Remember the saying; two hulls are better than one.) Hobie Alter started the Hobie Cat company in California in the late 1960’s by making a simple, easy to sail, easy to tow, single handed, 14’ catamaran sailboat with lots of power, that can be easily sailed up onto a beach. Some of the fastest sailboats are catamarans. • Where do you sit? You sit (crawl, stand, lay, kneel, roll, slide, and move around) on the trampoline that is stretched between the two hulls. In good wind, you can wear a harness and hook up to a trapeze wire (connected up above on the mast) and “stand” and lean out the side of the boat. This is especially fun when you can “Fly a Hull” and get one hull up out of the water. The mast is that big stick that holds the sails. • Where can you sail in central Iowa? In Iowa, if you eliminate the corn and soybean fields, cities an
