Absolutely!

Which is exactly why the event is named after him.

ARRRGGGG...I mean the trophy is named after him

Err - that's my point, Jake. The event is named (and always will be) the U.S. Multihull Championship. The TROPHY is named for Hobie Alter. It may seem a picky thing to some, but it is also correct.

Just about all of the US Sailing championships are known colloquially by the name of their trophy (e.g., Sears, Bemis, Smythe, whatever). We all generally refer to our Championship as the Alter Cup. In an effort to get some consistency into the way things are done among the championships, we were asked (as a committee) about two years ago to make all of our references and documentation consistent with other events and within our own event. We decided (by a vote) to call our event the “U.S. Multihull Championship for the Hobie Alter Cup” evermore, or until we get another directive like the one I got last week instructing me to put the periods on the “U.S.” for everything except “US Sailing,” despite seeming inconsistent to me – in fact, we’re supposed to always write it in caps – US SAILING – but that just seems like shouting to me. On a forum, I’ll let it slide – but that’s why you’ll see your Area Reps write it that way in SIs and NORs.

The trophy was named for Hobie Alter in deference to his contributions to one-design racing in the US. There are others who have made significant contributions also. We imagine that the Championship is one of the few strictly one-design events going on right now – the boats are provided, the fleet may not tune the boats, all of the equipment is identical, and you rotate the fleet through the boats during the regatta. It is the spirit of one-design racing that is being paid homage to – not the first successful beach cat, not the current class association, not the factory, not any of that. The name “Hobie” may be so integral to our lives as catamaran sailors that we have a hard time looking at specific facets of the man’s contribution to the sport – but that’s not his fault. We all carry our own baggage and preconceptions.

I got to meet Hobie Sr. twice, both times at regattas, once when he handed me a trophy. He’s a heck of a nice guy with an easy smile who has evolved a sense of one-design that he’s certainly instilled in his progeny – I have had spirited conversations over dinner and at parties with both Hobie P. and Jeff Alter about what fleets are one-design and what fleets merely pay the idea lip service. It is for this part of the Alter name that our trophy named.

ps - if it really bothers anyone for a specific reason, feel free to either contact your Area Rep or send me an e-mail. Our Council to US Sailing represents multihull sailors - any one of you have the right to propose a change and make your case. As I said earlier, not one competitor has ever complained to me, and the various manufacturers have never mention it either. But I concede that, though it seems like a small matter to me, it might be a big deal to someone else.

Hobie Alter is certainly worthy and deserving of having his name on the trophy, and I think the Multihull Council probably made the best decision in choosing him because he was somebody that everybody could agree on and his impact on the sport was obviously the most dramatic. In fact, if it had not been for the explosion in catamaran sailing that was caused by Hobie Alter, we probably never would have had enough clout to even have a Multihull Council in US Sailing in the first place (and, therefore, would not have a national U.S. Multihull Sailing Championship).
I don't know whether there were other candidates for the honor back when the trophy was established in 1985, but I would think they would have included:
--The Gougeon brothers (Jan and Meade), who were the best-known early pioneers experimenting with high-tech, small catamarans back in the 1950's.
--George Alleman, who (starting in 1961 got one-design catamaran racing well established in the United States as distributor first for the Shark and then for the Tornado.
--Dick Blanchard, who (circa 1960) founded the North American Multihull Sailing Association and developed the Portsmouth yardstick for small cats in the United States and put out the NAMSA newsletter for many years.

It would have been a difficult decision (at least for me)among those three, but I think I would have gone with Blanchard, because his contributions to the sport should never be forgotten. (He is now deceased.)

Ya know, I knew that and came back and edit my post to say "event"...too many epoxy fumes this morning I guess. Or it could be that cackalacki-itus again.