Dear Hobie Sailors-
Since you last heard from Starting Line Sailing, the new Hobie Cat sailboat manufacturer. We have made significant progress made across the entire Hobie Sailboats supply chain.
A small overview of where we are heading and what we have achieved since we have become the Hobie Cat sailboat manufacturer.
Last week, we started shipping Hobie Sailboats Parts orders to our worldwide Hobie dealership network.
– All the Hobie tools, molds, assets, jigs, etc, have been moved to our factory in Rhode Island. Rhode Island is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States
– The supply of sails is coming back to full production, we’ve taken delivery of large quantities of sails (all sold out instantly), and many more are in production now.
– Parts and accessory production are underway in Rhode Island. Matt Miller who worked at Hobie Cat Company for many years and was a long-time Hobie sailor with others from the Hobie team are helping us get into volume production.
– Waves and Getaways should be in volume production when you read this. We’ll be able to produce around 100 a month for the rest of 2023.
– Hobie 16 production will start in Rhode Island next month.
– We’re producing 50 trampolines a week
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Overall:
We are working hard to produce everything – while making sure quality remains high. We have dedicated our efforts to setting up all Hobie tooling in our factory and ensuring that we are producing a quality product before rushing to the market.
We’re producing in this priority order: Wave, Getaway and Hobie 16s. We expect the first complete boat deliveries by March.
In Europe, we expect deliveries of T1s and Catsys also in March, and fiberglass boat production (Dragoon, 14, 15, 16, and Max) is starting now with deliveries expected in late spring.
Early discussions are underway for Hobie Worlds, and how we can support events. We have agreed to charter boats for the Hobie 14 and Hobie Dragoon Worlds also Hobie 16s for the Hobie Europeans. We will also have the Hobie 16 Gold fleet sails for Cesenatico, Italy 11-21 July 2023. We have more information in another press release.
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Our mission is to get people on the water, and we are working as hard as we can to set up the new factory and start getting boats and parts out to dealers.
We have 50+ people involved in Hobie Sailboat work. We are working nights and weekends to get everything back for you to keep racing your Hobie.
We appreciate your patience and understanding as we work through issues.
We are confident that you will be impressed with the quality and craftsmanship of our products once they reach your hands.
Our next update should hopefully have pictures of completed boats going OUT THE DOOR 🙂
– The team at Starting Line Sailing
