Surfing t shirts have never seen this one.....
Hobie Alter, who shaped Southern California's signature surf culture by pioneering the mass-produced foam surfboard and later popularized sailing by inventing a lightweight, high-performance catamaran, died Saturday at his home in Palm Desert. He was 80. The announcement of Alter's death was posted on www.hobie.com , his company's website. No cause was disclosed. Full obituary: Hobie Alter dies at 80 A self-taught design innovator and entrepreneur whose “Hobie” brand earned him a fortune, Alter was nonetheless a reluctant businessman who eschewed suits for cutoffs and was guided by his imagination above all else.
