We build canoes.

Woo

August 21, 2012

Since we began in 2007, there is one region of the world that we haven’t been able to ship canoes to, Europe. Normally, when anyone east of the Atlantic inquires about a canoe, we tell them to look at what’s locally produced, as shipping a Pueo will be prohibitively expensive. To date, there are only three Pueo up there; one in Venice, one in France, and one in Switzerland. However, that is about to change.

We are contacted by companies interested in manufacturing the Pueo all the time. Our stock answer is “no.” While we are committed to local manufacturing, we are even more committed to quality manufacturing. Before we’ll even consider a partnership, a company must have a proven reputation for quality and a passion for outrigger canoeing. So far the only company that fit the bill was Kamanu Composites Australia. Run by Travis Grant with canoes built by Peter Corbishley, Kamanu Composites Australia has gained a reputation for the highest quality construction. So far that relationship has been hard to match. But, we have finally found the European equivalent.

Woo is an outrigger canoe manufacturing company founded four years ago by a group of friends in southern France. They are committed to local manufacturing and products created by local paddlers. Their stated reason for manufacturing is “why import canoes when you can make them yourself and create a dynamic around your passion.” We are proud to announce that they are ready to start taking orders on the Pueo for European customers.

The prospects for this new partnership are extremely exciting. Finally, we’ll have a legitimate business excuse to travel to the South of France.

For more information on Woo, their products, or ordering a Pueo in Europe, please contact Rico Leroy at ricoleroy@me.com

Liberty Challenge

June 29, 2012

Kamanu Composites was one of the proud sponsors of this year's Liberty Challenge in New York City. To commemorate the sponsorship, Luke Evslin flew to NYC to participate for his first time. This is his story...

In a city where nobody stands out, I was being stared at. Once I got over my self-consciousness at being the focus of a dozen sets of eyes on the subway, I began to stare right back. I did so in defiance of the final advice of my city host: “don’t dawdle and don’t stare.” Growing up in Hawai’i we’re continually told that we live in a melting pot of cultures. Standing on the subway in New York, I felt as if I’d lived my entire life in a bubble. It was like one of those pictures in Life Magazine showing the various faces of Earth. Everyone was represented and nobody seemed to be speaking English. Looking through the crowd it could have been any city in the world. Taken as a whole, it could only be New York City. Finally we got to my stop (which I’d rehearsed over and over in my head, “Fulton... Fulton... Fulton”) and I, in my obnoxiously bright surf shorts and t-shirt, picked up my Kialoa paddles and stepped off.

I wove my way up through the steaming mass of people in the bowels of NYC and finally emerged into the humid heat of the street. As my eyes slowly adjusted to the harsh light, it was as if I’d stepped into another world. Being a block away from Wall Street I was even more out of place than I was in the diversity of the subway. I was standing amid a moving sea of white men in suits. WIth no ocean in sight to rely on for a sense of direction and street numbers being meaningless for me, I took out my Iphone and just made sure that the blinking dot on the screen was heading towards the water. After a short walk that felt like traversing a continent, I finally got to my destination. The Best Western.

I stepped through the door into the air conditioned lobby and, for the first time in hours, finally felt comfortable. To the left was a French team, behind me the Brazilians, in front of me the Hawaiians, and scattered about were various representatives of the different east coast and Canadian canoe clubs. The group was nearly as diverse as the subway, but with one important difference. Everyone was wearing surf shorts, everyone had a paddle nearby, and everyone wore a t-shirt representing some past race. After two flights totaling 11 hours (yay for direct flights on Hawaiian), a taxi ride for an hour, a train ride for 40 minutes, a subway ride for 30 minutes, and a 20 minute walk, I was finally at the Hawaiian Airlines Liberty Challenge.

This is one of the few races that isn’t really about the competition of the race. It’s about the experience of being in New York City and being a part of the outrigger canoe culture in a place that you would least expect it. We tend to get so wrapped up in our paddling lives in Hawai’i that we forget what else is out there. Travel to a race like the Liberty Challenge and it’s a quick reminder of why we do this. It’s about being part of a community much greater than any of us. And it’s about perpetuating an ancient, unbroken, and living culture. While it can be easy to take that for granted when you’re racing across the Kaiwi Channel or between the islands of Huahine and Raiatea, it’s impossible to forget when you’re racing in the shadow of the Statue of Liberty.

The race itself takes place in the busiest waterway in the world. Imagine all of the canoes in the Moloka’i Hoe, but turn them all into massive ferries, barges, drunk yachters, and reckless speed boats. Then spin them around so that they are all traveling in seemingly random directions. With the final touch being that they have zero regard for the 45’ canoes in their way. Add in 4 mph currents that are hard to predict and the most aggressive OC-6 paddlers in the world (they’re New Yorkers, they were born aggressive) and you have an idea of what the Liberty Challenge is about.

My crew was yelled at, spun out, stabbed in the back (literally), and nearly run over. For the first time in my life, I swore at the steersmen next to me. We took advantage of the raging current by going 10 mph down the middle of the Hudson and then we hovered 4” from the seawall of the East River at 5 mph to avoid the torrent going against us. The mixed crew I had the honor of steering won by a few yards. The steersmen that I had cussed out moments before proudly congratulated us on a great race. It was as if we had just had the fight of our lives with mortal enemies and then crossed the line as best friends. That is the beauty of outrigger canoe paddling.

Photo Courtesy of Ken Missbrenner and New York Outrigger Canoe Club

• For results and pictures check them out on facebook and at the Liberty Challenge website.

He Wa'a he Moku, he Moku he Wa'a

May 30, 2012

Words cannot describe what just happened. We came into the race as friends and co-workers, and we walked away as brothers. Kamanu came alive in the channel and she gave us the honor of a victory. We didn't expect it and we don't take it for granted. She is why we do this. He wa'a he moku, he moku he wa'a. The canoe is an island, the island is a canoe. Kamanu is us, and we are Kamanu. She has given us life as much as we have given her life. She showed us what is possible. For those of us who helped build her or race her, the 2012 Pa'a 'Eono Hoe will be with us forever.

Kamanu in 'Eono

May 25, 2012

We wrote this several days before the Pa'a 'Eono race of 2012. The race went well, words and video from after the race are here.

Two years ago the Pa'a 'Eono Hoe sparked a revolution in outrigger canoeing. By eliminating the archaic design restrictions, Pa'a single handedly changed paddling forever. With the freedom to design anything, builders like us jumped on the opportunity. Now, two years later there are a dozen open class canoes on the water in Hawai'i and multiple races allowing open class designs. Every paddling association in the world (other than Hawai'i) has now eliminated restrictions completely.

We are proud to have played a small part in that revolution. The day that Pa'a announced the inaugural 'Eono we immediately began making plans to build a canoe. With just eight weeks to design and build it, we knew the odds were not in our favor. Strip planked one-off canoes are built completely differently than we build the Pueo on a daily basis. So not only were we tasked with coming up with a revolutionary design, but we also had to figure out how to build the thing. When we were three weeks in it became evident that, for once, we were right on schedule. Since being on schedule takes away the challenge (and because Keizo really wanted his own canoe to race) we (more like he) decided to build a second canoe. Now we were down to five weeks and had the added burden of trying to fit a second canoe in our shop while maintaining our current production schedule of one Pueo per day. If you were one of the unlucky few to have walked into our shop between April and May of 2010, then you probably had to wade through a pile of debris and hold your breath against the ever present cloud of fiberglass dust. To put it simply, it was a nightmare.

The last forty-eight hours before the race is a big blur. We loaded two canoes with freshly sprayed gel coat on a 70ft barge on Friday night before the race. Due to massive seas, the boat didn't get to Moloka'i until Saturday afternoon and it took us three hours just to get the canoes off the barge. We then worked on the canoes until dark, then went back before dawn Sunday morning to continue the process. Half an hour before the race we were finally done. And then we won the race. And we won again the next year with a new canoe. Now, going into year three, things have changed.

Our current canoe is the sum total of all that we have learned over our last five V-6 designs (Kawainui, Kapa'a, Ha'upu, NAC's V6, and Ka'apahu). More than that, we wanted it to embody Kamanu Composites. For starters, we put a manu hope on the canoe. Because open class canoes are strictly about performance, the manu is generally deemed unnecessary and has been removed. When we named our company after the manu on a canoe, we did it so that we would always remember where we came from. We wanted something that would keep us rooted in the tradition of Hawaiian outrigger canoeing and also something that represented leadership. Since the manu encompasses the canoe, leads the canoe, and is symbolic of the Hawaiian canoe, it was the perfect name for us. WIth our latest V-6, we knew it was time to bring it back.

Equally as important is the crew that will be racing her. Justin Watts, Mael Carey, Alika Guillaume, Alex Epling, Makana Denton, and Luke Evslin. All of them are employees of Kamanu Composites. Justin does guts (laminating the internal structures of the Pueo and closing the mold); Mael made all of our seats between 2008 and 2010, was one of our original team riders, and is currently the Maui rep for Kamanu; Alika is a laminator (laminates the hull, deck, and ama of the Pueo on a daily basis); Alex and Makana are both finishers (rigging, finishing, quality control, repairs), and Luke is one of the founders of the company. Instead of putting together an all-star team consisting of our top team riders, this race was literally about family. For the first time ever, we will be racing not as Team Kamanu, but just as Kamanu. The members of this year's crew are a representative sample of the 'ohana that works hard to produce and deliver every Pueo. We aren't in this to win; we're racing 'Eono in Kamanu to represent where we came from, to show where we're going, and, most of all, to represent the hard work that each of our 19 employees puts into every canoe.

Designed by Keizo Gates, led by Todd Strand, and built by all of Kamanu Composites, we are proud to present our newest canoe: Kamanu. Named after the manu, our company, and all that they represent, she is the embodiment of what we do. Kamanu, sprayed in primer gray (final spray job to be done later), will be blessed at 9:30 at Kaluakoi on Moloka'i just minutes before her inaugural voyage this Sunday. She is our ode to a new era.

Words and video from after the race are here.

Ka'apahu

May 24, 2012

Ka'äpahu, an unlimited design sixman, is for sale. It is the fourth sixman design by Kamanu Composites and the third built here in Kailua. While it has traits from all three previously designed canoes, it stands alone as our best all around performance sixman to date.

DESIGN

This year we set out with two goals. To significantly improve flatwater speed over the previous designs while still retaining rough water performance and maneuverability for the steers-person. Naturally these two goals are conflicting. To improve flatwater speed, you create a longer waterline and less rocker. To improve rough water performance you add rocker, shorten the waterline, and add volume. What we've done with ka'äpahuu is really clever.

We started with a short water line of 37' 5", a wide beam of almost 21", and a hull with a lot of rocker. This alone will give you a boat that surfs well and is maneuverable on waves. However, we knew that nature isn't always kind in giving us windy surfing conditions and that this boat should be as fast in flat water as well. This requires narrowing up the entry even more than we've previously ever done. So much that the stroker, seat 1, would no longer fit in the canoe. To remedy this problem the shape above the waterline had to flair way out. The style evolved through various different curves until a spray rail naturally developed. With this feature, we've achieved excellent flat-water performance while preserving volume and lift in the bow.

The deck was refined and a new canvas system was designed. Tracks are integrated so that each canvas slides easily into place. The 'iako are aluminum. The ama is custom; computer designed and cut out of solid foam.

CONSTRUCTION

This canoe has far and away the best construction of any sixman canoe we've made yet. The canoe is all epoxy, high strength s-glass, and carbon fiber. It's made with a strip plank process, with 5/8" corecel foam. Stations and bow and stern sections were CNC machined. Paint is a DuPont industrial paint, with an epoxy primer.

PRICE

$24,000 complete and ready to race.