It’s not often you see the delivery of a hand made, 40’, Hawaiian, Racing Canoe. In this case we were out for our morning run/walk and observed two trucks parked near the gate to our Beach Club at Makaiwa Bay in the Mauna Lani Resort. It was before 7:00 am and the gate was shut but I did check out this very sleek canoe on a trailer parked on the roadside when I ran past the gates.

I saw Kawika Ruddle at the Boat House and motioned with my hands as I ran him that there was a large vehicle trying to gain access. He nodded like he knew what I was referring to and I kept going over the pond knowing I would be able to circle back and check out the canoe closer if it made it through the gate. Sure enough the trailer and canoe were at the boat house surrounded by the entire Mauna Lani Sea Adventures crew guiding it back toward the boat ramp.

As I stood and watched, I saw one of the guys carefully unstrapping the canoe that still had the Ama’s and ‘iako’s tethered to the sides with canvas strips. I stepped forward to ask if he had made the canoe and he answered “yes” with a big smile! I could tell it was made from a very straight grained wood species, light in color and I speculated it was some type of fir. When I asked him the wood species his said, “Alaskan Spruce”. We introduced ourselves and he told me his name is Tim Wood.

I told him I repair my own surf boards and have made a few ukulele’s so I was curious about the other components and building methodology. He responded by giving me many details like it’s weight (240 lbs), 40’ length, carbon fiber twill reinforcing the interior wood surface, Basalt fiber reinforcing the exterior bottom of the canoe for abrasion resistance and finally 3 cotes of epoxy resin to reinforce the exterior wood surface over 1-ply of #6 fiberglass. All of these layers were hand sanded to 200 grit smoothness he continued shaking both of his hands like they still hurt from the sanding process. He commented that sanding the canoe was like sanding 20 surfboards to perfect smoothness and I told him I could believe it.

This conversation resulted in Tim proudly revealing that the canoe was destined for the new Auberge branded Mauna Lani Bay Hotel. I’m only supposing it is destined for daily use as it was purposely built lightweight as to make it easier to launch and retrieve from the ocean according to Tim. I’m hoping one day to paddle this beautiful canoe and will always remember seeing it delivered by it’s creator on a beautiful morning.

Link to Tim Wood’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/timwoodgo

Written by Rick Oliver on March 26, 2019
Posted in: Hawaii Life | Tags: Auberge, canoe, Hawaiian racing canoe