Hobart 'Hobie' Alter, the original owner & designer of the Hobie Surboards company, was a major force in the evolution of surfboards as we know them today. The first Hobie Surfboards were built by a very young Hobie in the family garage in Laguna Beach, California. In 1950 Hobie built his first balsa boards for his surf buddies. These boards did not have the Hobie Surfboards name as Hobie did not yet realize he would be a force in the blossoming surfboard industry. Hobie began by building beautiful 9-foot balsawood icons for his friends. Hobie, as a young man made his first trip to Hawaii in the winter of 1953. He built a few large Hawaiian elephant guns at Makaha Beach for his buddies, most noteably big wave pioneer Buzzy Trent, to surf the very large wavse of Makaha and the North Shore of Oahu. Perhaps only three of these extreme big wave Hobie surfboards were made and only one is still known to exist. Shortly after Hobie visited Hawaii, he opened Hobie Surfboards in 1954. Here he made the first boards that carried the Hobie name. Hobie Surfboards continued to grow, probably easily out-producing most other companies of the day. A couple of years and 40 tons of sawdust later, Hobie opened up Southern California's first surf shop in Dana Point, California. Then in 1958 Hobie and his buddy Gordon "Grubby" Clark (as in Clark Foam) began experiments making surfboards out of foam and fiberglass. The new boards were lighter, faster and more responsive than anything else in the water. Demand skyrocketed, production cranked up, and everyone wanted to be on a Hobie surfboard. From 1961 through 1965 Hobie surfboards were the winningest surfboard in most of the major surf contests across the U.S. and Hawaii. The Hobie Surfboards team roster reads like a who's who of surfing in the 1960s.Some of the Hobie team members were Buzzy Trent, Pete Peterson, Phil Edwards, Bing Boka, Rodney Sumpter, Gary Propper, Dick Catri, Joyce Hoffman, Joyce Hamasaki, Corky Carroll and of course Hobie himself. In the late 60s early 70s, he developed and sold the most sucessfull catamaran, aptly called Hobie Cat. Here are some 60s HOBIE SURFBOARDS: 1960 Stock, 1964 Phil Edwards (the first 'model' surfboard), 1965 Nose Rider, 1966 Corky Carroll, 1966 Multi Board (a two piece board made for air travel), 1967 Corky Carroll Mimi, 1967 Corky Carroll Hawaii, 1968 Joyce Hoffman, 1968 Wedge, 1969 Deadly Flying Glove