Innovator Hobie Alter revolutionized two sporting inventions that brought masses to the water – allowing more people to surf and glide along the ocean’s surface on small-scale sailboats.

Alter, who opened Southern California’s first surf shop along Pacific Coast Highway in Dana Point in his younger years and was part of a generation that defined what it meant to be a Southern California surfer, died Saturday surrounded by family at his Palm Desert home after a long bout with cancer. He was 80.

Alter started shaping boards in his parents’ Laguna Beach summer home in the early ’50s – using the usual heavy balsa wood – he teamed with Gordon “Grubby” Clark develop polyurethane foam as a substitute for the core of a surfboard in the late ’50s. Their lighter, faster, less-expensive alternative revolutionized the sport.

The invention invited more people to take up the growing sport as the craze paralleled the mainstream success of the Gidget franchise. Many iconic shapers worked under Alter’s label, including Mickey Munoz, Terry Martin and Corky Carroll, to name a few.

Alter got the idea of using foam from the aerospace industry. The same technology is used in most surfboards built today.

“The rest of the people weren’t so quick to adapt, but there was no doubt in his mind that this was the future,” author Paul Holmes said in an interview about his book, “Hobie: Master of Water, Wind and Waves,” released last year. Holmes spent 27 months researching the book and spent much time with Alter, who had been in declining health because of his struggle with cancer.

In 1954, Alter opened a custom surfboard factory and showroom in Dana Point and was the first to develop a removable fin, making shipping and transport easier.

In the late ’60s, Alter switched his focus in the water and started designing sailboats – specifically smaller boats that were affordable to the masses at $999. No longer did a boat owner need to belong to a yacht club or own a slip to enjoy the water, the boats could be launched from the beach. The Hobie Cat became known as “the people’s boat,” and still is the world’s best-selling catamaran, according to the company’s website.

“That led to a whole other career for him in the sailing scene,” Holmes said.

Other little-known aspects of Alter’s life include how he developed a radio-controlled glider that had a 10-foot wingspan. He was businessman early in the surfwear apparel industry, investing in Ocean Pacific. He also dabbled in real estate and kept a stable of racehorses. Alter was also an avid skier, an expert tandem surfer, and a “wonderful person,” Holmes said.

A profile on Huntington Beach-based Surfline.com called Alter “one of the most successful entrepreneurs in surfing history.” According to the site, the Hobie label remains one of the top-selling surfboard brands of all time.

“He didn’t just create toys, he created a way of life, a new way of looking at our watery world,” the site reads.

When Alter retired, he designed and built a 60-foot catamaran that he regularly took on ocean adventures to Alaska. He spent his later years on Orcas Island off the coast of Washington in summer months and Palm Desert during winter.

Social media was filled Sunday with sorrow about Alter’s death. Register columnist and three-time international surfing champ Corky Carroll wrote: “He had a major impact on my life when I was young. A true legend and always a really great person.”

Surf historian Allan Seymour said inspiration will be Alter’s legacy.

“Not just his inventiveness. He got so many people off the couch, surfing and sailing,” Seymour said.

Alter received the Waterman Achievement award from the Surfing Industry Manufacturers Association in 1993 and was inducted into the Surfing Walk of Fame in 1997. He was an inaugural member of the National Sailing Hall of Fame in 2011.

Just in December, Alter made a rare appearance at the Surfing Heritage Foundation in San Clemente, where a packed crowd showed up to meet the surf and sailing icon.

Contact the writer: lconnelly@ocregister.com