Hobie 16 Sail Pattern Guide

The Ultimate Hobie 16North AmericanSail Pattern GuideIn the beginning, all sails were white.In the late 1960’s, only a fewboat manufacturers offered coloredsails. Hobie Cats seemed made forcolor, and Hobie tried to distinguish themselves by offering a myriad of hull and deck colors. Froma distance though, you still couldn’ttell a Hobie Cat from any othersailboat. Hobie needed somethingto make their product unique andwith any luck, sell more boats. Thefully battened sails were a naturalcanvas, so Hobie started introducing colored panels. The rest is history. Hobie Cats and colored sailswere forever connected.The first experiments with color were tentative – asingle panel in the main and jib. Then alternating colorpanels were introduced and ultimately, whole sails ofa solid color. In 1974, someone had a brilliant idea:package a full-color sail pattern with special hull andtramp colors, use the relatively new black anodizedaluminum and give the scheme a name. Thus, thefirst named “package boats” – Banana, Orchid and thepopular Flamer designs – were born in 1975.In the late ‘70s, named package boats really tookoff. Who can forget the Tequila Sunrise, the mostpopular pattern ever? In 1977, Hobie Cat began providing boats for the World and US National Championships. In some cases, these had the new sail patternsfor the coming year, but often, they would be custompatterns not available otherwise. Large, sail numbers inan ornate font replaced the plain identification numbers of the early sails. Eventually, the package namesbecame associated with just the sails.www.hcana.hobieclass.comIn the 1980’s, the number of color patterns exploded, driven by sailcloth dyed with multiple coloredstripes. The popular Prism and Blue Hawaii patternswould not have been possible without this innovation.The dyed sailcloth was extremely versatile. It could beused in a single panel, with as many as eight differentcolor stripes, or combined with a reversed second panelto create the “double” patterns. It could be movedaround to different panels, but did not work well in thehigher panels due to their increasing wedge shape. Asboat production numbers waned in the late ‘80s, thedyed material became harder to get in smaller quantities. The last pattern made with it was the All American in 1990.But while the sail patterns were becoming morenumerous, hull colors were being phased out. Sunfading and discoloration were real problems with somecolors, so by the end of the 1980’s, hulls were limitedto white, blue and yellow. The exceptions to this werethe Stars & Stripes special edition of 1987 with gunmetal blue-gray hulls and its special commemorativesails and some of the 1989 Nationals boats had lightgray hulls. Colored hulls are now only made in limitedruns, like the red boats produced by the Australianfactory in 2011.In the early 90’s Hobie began to experiment withsome completely different technologies to set theirproducts apart. Sail window material became a designelement in the ill-fated Formula 1 package. These sailswere unlike anything seen before or since. They wereteamed up with white powder-coated aluminum tocreate a striking look. Unfortunately, they didn’t wearwell – the powder coating chipped easily and the sailsstretched in odd ways, making them old before theirtime. They were quickly phased out.1

1970 – 1972123197310Lt. Blue / Dk.Blue45613141974111215Red / 2232425Spirit of ‘762627White KnightGoldfinger197828Tequila Sunrise (yellowhulls)29‘77 NationalsYellow30‘77 NationalsRed31Cat Fever(yellow hulls)3233ChunkyBanana34KeokeOrangeCrusher3536Blue StreakRed Rocket197937Tequila Sunrise(blue hulls)238Emerald Blue3940‘79 NationalsBlue41‘79 NationalsYellow42‘79 NationalsGreen43‘79 NationalsOrangeSPECIAL PUBLICATION

19804647Carumba48Hot Flash80 NationalsJalapeno80 Nationals495080 NationalsPurple5180 NationalsBlue80 NationalsRed19815253Flasher54Boomer81 NationalsCat Fever(blue hulls)81 Nationals5555ASmokin’81 Nationals56Gonzo81 Nationals57OrangeCrusher81 Nationals1982585960616282 NationalsRed6382 NationalsOrange6482 NationalsYellow6582 NationalsLt. Blue6682 NationalsDk. Blue198367Blue Hawaii686970Hot FlashBlue Hawaii(reversed)71Prism83 NationalsOrange7283 NationalsGreen7383 NationalsPurple7483 NationalsLt. Blue7583 NationalsDk. Blue198476SummerGames84 Nationals7778PlumCrazy84 Nationalswww.hcana.hobieclass.comTsunami84 Nationals7984 NationalsYellow3

1985808182DoublePlumRedline83DoubleHeat Wave8485 NationalsLt. Blue19868990Fantasia9885 NationalsWhite(Prism)8685 NationalsDk. Blue85 NationalsRed878885 NationalsPurple85 NationalsYellow(Sunburst)19879186 NationalsLt. Blue9286 NationalsDk. Blue99Tidal Wave859386 NationalsMed. Blue10087 NationalsMed. Blue94Mai Tai10187 NationalsRed95PinkRockerRedline GT9697Stars & StripesBlue Prism10287 NationalsDk. Blue87 NationalsPurple1988103Mariah10488 NationalsWhite10588 NationalsBlue10688 NationalsPink10788 NationalsGreen10888 asis112PinkPrism113MontereyGold11489 NationalsYellow11589 NationalsBlue11689 NationalsPink11789 NationalsTealSPECIAL PUBLICATION

1990118All American1991119120Formula 1Green121122NeonFormula 1Pink90 Nationals123Breezer128RaspberryWedge129Red / YellowMylarTealMylar130MardiGras13192 Nationals125Hot FizzOrangeMylar126PurpleMylar19931992127124132Wild Thing133134FiestaFiesta del Sol135Mint Julep199513693 Nationals137138HuatulcoWorlds YellowHuatulcoWorlds Blue1998145TwilightMylar146Baja Blues02Continentals155HuatulcoWorlds Purple140HuatulcoWorlds RedNative Sun148Mango Madness141HuatulcoWorlds Green142143Blue Lagoon149Twilight150PocheDel Mar151152CapoIslands2004156Playa del Solwww.hcana.hobieclass.comSeaside157Riviera MayaWorlds 5158Riviera MayaWorlds Green159Riviera MayaWorlds Grey160161MistySolana162Spirit5

200816340th Anniv.Blue201016440th Anniv.Yellow16540th Anniv.Red166Smoke167CoronadoIn 1990, Mylar sails were approved by the class for use withthe Hobie 16. A whole new look was available with the verticalcut sails. The same taffeta material (one side Dacron, one sideMylar) used for the Hobie 17 sails was used for the 16. Hobiequickly found out that the taffeta material was ill-suited for theH-16 jib leech, wearing on the mast, so later versions of the sailpatterns had conventional Dacron jibs. Ultimately, the Mylarsails were not as durable as the Dacron, or as fast, and the lastMylar sails, appropriately named Twilight, were made in 1995.In 1993, an experiment was made with a vinyl appliqué pattern – the Fiesta del Sol. The look was unique, but they didn’tsell very well. They weren’t very durable either, so vinyl appliquépatterns were shelved.The mid-to-late ‘90s were Hobie’s lean years. Few newpatterns were introduced and the color palette faded to somberblues, purples and greens from the hot neon colors of the ‘80sand early ‘90s. Towards the turn of the century, the palettebecame bolder, brighter and there was a definite shift in thenames. Several of the older designs were named after cocktails –Breezer, Hot Fizz, Mint Julep and Mimosa. For Hobie’s fiftiethanniversary in 2000, patterns were named after famous surfingspots – Poche, Capo and Killer Dana (a Hobie 20 pattern). Today, the trend is towards positive names emphasizing sun, sandand the sea – Playa del Sol, Seaside, Solana, Seabreeze.The color schemes have always been greatly influenced by theavailability of sailcloth. Hobie Cats use a cloth that is heavierthan other small sailboat sails, so much of the colored sailclothis custom made for Hobie Cat. This was not a problem in the‘70s and ‘80s when thousands of boats were being sold each yearand sailcloth was being consumed at a ferocious rate. Today, thecolor palette is limited due to the large quantity of cloth thatmust be purchased in custom colors.The two world championships held in North America inrecent years (1995 in Huatulco, Mexico and 2004 in RivieraMaya, Mexico) produced some striking sails. The 1995 sails areeasily identified by the “reversed” class logo in the second panel6168Hot Tamale169Seabreezeof the main (instead of its usual third panel location) and thegiant “O’Neil” logo down the leech. These sails were meant to bephotographed from the starboard side, whereas the sails in thepattern guide show the port side of the sail. Thus, they have thelogos reversed and as if seen through the sail cloth.The Riviera Maya patterns, in addition to showcasing thenational colors of Mexico, also have the Mayan god Choc Moolon the jib.In 2008, Hobie Cat made three retro patterns for the 40thAnniversary Regatta held in Dana Point, CA in October of thatyear. Those patterns were subsequently used for several major events, including the 2009 ISAF Youth Championships inBuzios, Brazil.Finally, some disclaimers about the pattern chart: The year by each design is the first year of introduction.Most patterns were made for multiple years. There are no custom, “one-off ” patterns. The patterns shownhere were made available to the general public in at leastlimited quantities. There are no European patterns. Hobie Cat Europe has hadtheir own color patterns that are much different than HobieUSA’s from the early ‘90s onward. That’s a major project fora future article. There are no Worlds boats from outside from the NorthAmerican Region. We wanted to provide a guide to what youmight see on the beach in North America. The Hobie 16 was chosen because the most patterns havebeen made for it and it spans the entire chronology of coloredsails. With a few exceptions, the 14 and 18 have very similarpatterns. The Hobie 17 and Hobie 20 have separate guides.Even with these caveats, there are almost 170 publicly available sail patterns that have been identified in the nearly 45 yearsof Hobie 16 production. However, the pattern chart will neverbe complete. Lucky for us.SPECIAL PUBLICATION

Aug 15, 2013 · colors, so by the end of the 1980’s, hulls were limited to white, blue and yellow. The exceptions to this were the Stars & Stripes special edition of 1987 with gun-metal blue-gray hulls and its special commemorative sails and some of the 1989 Nationals boats had light gray hulls. Colored hulls are now only made in limited