Shaping A Culture

The California Surf Museum in Oceanside is showcasing its newest retrospective exhibit, Hobie Surfboards — Shaping A Culture, in honor of surf icon Hobart “Hobie” Alter. The museum hosts a replica Hobie Surf Shop displaying surfboards, products, memorabilia, and photos spanning over seven decades. There’s even an authentic Hobie Catamaran on the museum roof. The exhibit is a celebration of Alter’s myriad achievements in the surf culture. He is a founding pioneer in the surfboard shaping industry, creator of the Hobie Cat, and founder of the Hobie Company. A successful surf entrepreneur, Alter is world-renowned as the man behind the development of the foam-and-fiberglass surfboard — and his label remains one of the top-selling surfboard brands of all time. In the early 1960s, Hobie joined with Vita Pakt to create the Hobie Super Surfer skateboard and a promotional skateboarding team that spread the word to landlocked towns and cities across the country. By the late ’60s Hobie had designed, engineered, and produced the Hobie Catamaran — “the people’s boat” — a small and relatively inexpensive sailboat that revolutionized the world of yachting. Last year, Alter was inducted into the National Sailing Hall of Fame located on the waterfront of Annapolis, Maryland. The Hobie exhibit will be on view through the end of this month. (760.721.6876, www.surfmuseum.org)