The Alter Cup Committee has accepted a proposal from the Hobie Cat Company to provide boats for the 2004 and the 2005 US SAILING Multihull Championship regattas for the Hobie Alter Cup. The 2004 event will tentatively be hosted in June of 2004 in the Long Island Sound area, and sailed on the Hobie 16. The 2005 event will be sailed in April or May 2005 in Southern California on the Hobie Tiger.

2003 Qualifying and ladder events throughout the US are mostly complete, and a roster of teams that will be invited to compete in the 2004 Hobie Alter Cup will be finalized in January 2004. The list of qualified teams will be posted on the Alter Cup website at www.ussailing.org/alter. A schedule of 2004 qualifying events for the 2005 Hobie Alter Cup in California will be posted on the website in the early spring 2004.

The Hobie 14 catamaran sailboat launched the "Hobie Way of Life" when it leaped onto the world stage with the now famous 1968 Life Magazine "The Cat that Flies" article. This great beachcat is still actively raced today and many new sailors get their first taste of catamaran sailing aboard the Hobie 14 catamaran.

Bob Curry, former World and National Champion on the Hobie 14, has agreed to share his tuning tips for the Hobie 14. His photos and explanations will save the new Hobie 14 catamaran owner lots of time getting rigged, and get the racer around the course a little faster.

Need fresh content for your sailing website? Now it's easy to run the latest headlines from TheBeachcats.com as they appear. By inserting a little JavaScript where you would like the headlines to appear, you can keep your readers up to date. Get complete instructions here.

This article will explain the step-by-step method of epoxying the frame of a Hobie 16 together to achieve a stiff, well sailing boat.  The techniques will be very similar and can be applied to a Hobie 14.  This article does not pertain to other Hobies since they do not have the elevated 3 corner casting design.

Rumors about the demise of the Hobie 17 and Hobie 18 are true, here is a statement directly from the Hobie Cat Company. Please add your comments to this article, I'd like to know how cat sailors feel about this.

Dear Hobie Sailors,

October 9, 2003: It is always difficult to come to the end of an "era", but Hobie Cat Company has had to face the fact that it is no longer economically feasible to continue to build our Hobie 17 Special Editions and Hobie 17 Sports, as well as our Hobie 18 Special Editions and Hobie 18 SX's. Both the 17 and 18 enjoyed life cycles that would make any manufacturer proud. More importantly, we are proud of the introduction to sailing and enjoyment they provided to so many people for so many years. For us, it is like saying goodbye to old friends.