feature The Ultimate Sail Pattern Guide From Flamer to Spirit, We’ve Got Them All

In the beginning, all sails were white.

In the late 1960’s, only a few an ornate font replaced the plain identification boat manufacturers offered colored numbers of the early sails. Eventually, the package sails, most notably Alcort, the names became associated with just the sails. makers of the Sailfish and . In the 1980’s, the number of color patterns ex- Hobie Cats seemed made for color. ploded, driven by sailcloth dyed with multiple colored But the first colors weren’t in the stripes. The popular Prism and Blue Hawaii patterns sails – they were in the hulls. would not have been possible without this innovation. When you ordered a The dyed sailcloth was extremely versatile. It could be in the late 60’s, you could choose used in a single panel, with as many as eight different from twelve different gel coat color stripes, or combined with a reversed second panel colors and you could select separate to create the “double” patterns. It could be moved colors for the hulls and decks. around to different panels, but did not work well in From a distance though, you still the higher panels due to their increasing wedge shape. couldn’t tell a from any As boat production numbers waned in the late 80’s, other . Hobie Cat needed the dyed material became harder to get in smaller something to make their product unique and with any quantities. The last pattern made with it was the All luck, sell more boats. The fully battened sails were a American in 1990. natural canvas, so Hobie started introducing colored But while the sail patterns were becoming more panels. The rest is history. Today, Hobie Cats and numerous, colors were being phased out. Sun colored sails are inexorably connected. fading and discoloration were real problems with some The first experiments with color were tentative – a colors, so by the end of the 1980’s, hulls were limited single panel in the main and . Then alternating color to white, blue and yellow. The exceptions to this were panels were introduced and ultimately, whole sails of a the Stars & Stripes special edition of 1987 with gun- solid color. In 1974, someone had a brilliant idea: metal blue-gray hulls and its special commemorative package a full-color sail pattern with special hull and sails and some of the 1989 Nationals boats had light tramp colors, use the relatively new black anodized gray hulls. With the exception of last year, the last aluminum and give the scheme a name. Thus, the first provided boat Nationals was in 1989, but Hobie named “package boats” – Banana, Orchid and the ever continued to supply a limited number of charter boats popular Flamer designs – were born in 1975. with sail patterns unique to the events. In the late 70’s named package boats really took off. In the early 90’s Hobie began to experiment with Who can forget the Tequila Sunrise, the most popular some completely different technologies to set their pattern ever? Also, in 1977, Hobie Cat began provid- products apart. Sail window material became a design ing boats for the World and US National Champion- element in the ill-fated Formula 1 package. These sails ships. In some cases, these had the new sail patterns were unlike anything seen before or since. They were for the coming year, but often, they would be custom teamed up with white powder-coated aluminum to patterns not available otherwise. Large, sail numbers in create a striking look. Unfortunately, they didn’t wear 18 MAR / APR 2006 1970 – 1972 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

1973 1974 1975 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

Lt. Blue / Dk. Red / Gold Banana Flamer Orchid Blue

1976 1977 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27

Spirit of ‘76 Goldfinger White Knight

1978 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36

Tequila ‘77 Nationals ‘77 Nationals Cat Fever Chunky Keoke Orange Blue Streak Red Rocket Sunrise Yellow Red (yellow hulls) Banana Crusher (yellow hulls) 1979 37 38 39 40 41 42 43

Tequila Emerald Blue ‘79 Nationals ‘79 Nationals ‘79 Nationals ‘79 Nationals Sunrise Blue Yellow Green Orange (blue hulls)

www.hca-na.org 19 1980 46 47 48 49 50 51

Carumba Hot Flash Jalapeno 80 Nationals 80 Nationals 80 Nationals 80 Nationals 80 Nationals Purple Blue Red

1981 52 53 54 55 56 57

Flasher Cat Fever Boomer Smokin’ Gonzo Orange (blue hulls) 81 Nationals 81 Nationals 81 Nationals Crusher 81 Nationals 81 Nationals 1982 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66

82 Nationals 82 Nationals 82 Nationals 82 Nationals 82 Nationals Red Orange Yellow Lt. Blue Dk. Blue

1983 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75

Blue Hawaii Blue Hawaii Hot Flash Prism 83 Nationals 83 Nationals 83 Nationals 83 Nationals 83 Nationals (reversed) Orange Green Purple Lt. Blue Dk. Blue

1984 76 77 78 79

Summer Plum Tsunami 84 Nationals Games Crazy 84 Nationals Yellow 84 Nationals 84 Nationals

20 MAR / APR 2006 1985 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88

Redline Double Double 85 Nationals 85 Nationals 85 Nationals 85 Nationals 85 Nationals 85 Nationals Plum Heat Wave Lt. Blue White Dk. Blue Red Purple Yellow (Prism) () 1986 1987 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97

Fantasia 86 Nationals 86 Nationals 86 Nationals Mai TaiPink Redline GT Stars & Stripes Blue Prism Lt. Blue Dk. Blue Med. Blue Rocker

98 99 100 101 102

Tidal Wave87 Nationals 87 Nationals 87 Nationals 87 Nationals Med. Blue Red Dk. Blue Purple

1988 103 104 105 106 107 108

Mariah 88 Nationals 88 Nationals 88 Nationals 88 Nationals 88 Nationals White Blue Pink Green Yellow

1989 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117

Double GeneratorOasis Pink Monterey 89 Nationals 89 Nationals 89 Nationals 89 Nationals Prism Prism Gold Yellow Blue Pink Teal

www.hca-na.org 21 1990 1991 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126

All American Formula 1 Formula 1 Neon 90 Nationals Breezer Hot Fizz Orange Purple Green Pink Mylar Mylar

1992 1993 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135

Raspberry Teal Red / Yellow Mardi 92 Nationals Wild Thing Fiesta Fiesta del Sol Mint Julep Wedge Mylar Mylar Gras

1995 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144

93 Nationals Huatulco Huatulco Huatulco Huatulco Huatulco Blue Lagoon Del Mar Mimosa Worlds Yellow Worlds Blue Worlds Purple Worlds Red Worlds Green

1998 1999 2000 2002 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153

Twilight Baja Blues Native Sun Mango Twilight Poche Capo Islands Sublime Mylar Madness

2004 2005 2006 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162

02 Playa del Sol Seaside Riviera Maya Riviera Maya Riviera Maya Misty Solana Spirit Continentals Worlds Red Worlds Green Worlds Grey

22 MAR / APR 2006