Case Study: Hobie Cat Company achieves ergonomic, race-winning SUP paddle design with SolidWorks

Surf pioneer Hobie Designs turns to Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks Corp., NextEngine, and RapidTech to create a better paddle

Hobie Cat Company needed a better stand-up paddle (SUP) paddle knob and overall paddle design but lacked the manufacturing tooling to turn hand-carved prototypes into production-ready parts. Working with RapidTech and a NextEngine 3D Desktop Scanner, the team used SolidWorks 3D CAD software to digitize, refine and finalize the knob and paddle geometry so the design could be prototyped and manufactured.

RapidTech scanned the carved knobs, imported the data into SolidWorks for surface editing, mirrored and extruded the part, and exported STL files for rapid prototyping and casting; the iterative cycle (30 minutes of scanning and about 7.5 hours of CAD work across four handle iterations) produced polished prototypes that went to tooling. SolidWorks enabled fast, accurate refinements that helped Hobie Cat Company launch the new SUP paddles—one of which helped Hobie pro Byron Kurt win the Ta Hoe Nalu SUP Classic and an 11-city stage race—and put race, performance, and all‑around paddle models into production.

Hobie Cat Company

Jeff Alter

President