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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 Sunfish. 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 Hobie 14 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 Hobie Cat from any As boat production numbers waned in the late 80’s,
other sailboat. 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, hull 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 jib. 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)

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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) (Sunburst)

1986 1987
89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97

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

98 99 100 101 102

Tidal Wave 87 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 Generator Oasis Pink Monterey 89 Nationals 89 Nationals 89 Nationals 89 Nationals

Prism Prism Gold Yellow Blue Pink Teal

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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