Hobie 16
Description
The Hobie 16 is an iconic beach-launched fiberglass catamaran sailboat designed by Hobie Alter and introduced by Hobie Cat Company in 1970. It revolutionized multihull sailing by making high-performance catamarans accessible, affordable, and fun for recreational sailors, racers, and families. With its lightweight asymmetrical hulls, dual-trapeze wires for crew harnessing, and unstayed lateen rig, the Hobie 16 delivers exhilarating speeds (up to 20+ knots planing) and "big-grin" sailing—flying a hull in 12–15 knots of wind. Over 135,000 have been built (as of 2025), making it the world's most popular catamaran and the second-largest sailboat fleet ever. Inducted into the Sailing Hall of Fame in 2013, it's an ISAF International Class for one-design racing, with fleets worldwide hosting events like the North American Championships. Still in production in the U.S. and France, it's ideal for 2 crew (trapezing) on lakes, bays, or ocean surf, though not for heavy offshore use. Variants are minimal (e.g., older aluminum masts vs. modern composite tips for safety).
Construction Details
| Designer | Hobie Alter |
|---|---|
| Builder | Hobie |
| Length | 16.000 ft |
| LOA | 16.580 ft |
| Beam | 7.920 ft |
| Displacement | 320 lb |
| Max Draft | 0.830 ft |
The standard boat dimensions
| i | - |
|---|---|
| j | - |
| p | - |
| e | - |
| p2 | - |
| e2 | - |
| i2 | - |
| j2 | - |
| I | J | P | E | P2 | E2 | I2 | J2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Sails
| Sail Type | MAINSAIL |
|---|---|
| Luff | 24 ft - (7315 mm) |
| Foot | 9 ft - (2743 mm) |
| Leech | * 25.15 ft - (7666 mm) |
| Tack Angle | * 88 ° |
| Diagonal | * 25.34 ft - (7724 mm) |
| Head (inches) | * 4 in - (102 mm) |
| Area | * 111.4 ft² |
| Sail Type | JIBSAIL |
|---|---|
| Luff | 16 ft - (4877 mm) |
| Foot | 5.75 ft - (1753 mm) |
| Leech | 15.75 ft - (4801 mm) |
| Length Perpendicular | 5.61 ft - (1710 mm) |
| Area | * 44.84 ft² |
| Sail Type | DRIFTER |
|---|---|
| Luff | 18.5 ft - (5639 mm) |
| Foot | 11 ft - (3353 mm) |
| Leech | 17 ft - (5182 mm) |
| Length Perp | * 9.94 ft - (3030 mm) |
| Area | * 91.95 ft² |
| Sail Type | ASYMMETRICAL |
|---|---|
| Luff | 19.5 ft - (5944 mm) |
| Foot | 8.75 ft - (2667 mm) |
| Leech | 17.25 ft - (5258 mm) |
| Area | * 128 ft² |
| Sail Type | ASYMMETRICAL |
|---|---|
| Luff | 21 ft - (6401 mm) |
| Foot | 12 ft - (3658 mm) |
| Leech | 18.58 ft - (5663 mm) |
| Area | * 189 ft² |
| Sail Type | ASYMMETRICAL |
|---|---|
| Luff | 25 ft - (7620 mm) |
| Foot | 12.5 ft - (3810 mm) |
| Leech | 22.5 ft - (6858 mm) |
| Area | * 234 ft² |
Disclaimer. Boats are not all the same -- even when produced in the same factory of the same model. Sailrite does its best to publish accurate dimensions, but we often find it worthwhile to have our customers measure their boats carefully before we produce kits for them. You should take the same precautions, especially when the data is not from Sailrite. The information on this site is not guaranteed to be accurate. Sailrite offers this content as a service to our community, but takes no responsibility for the reliability of the data provided.