Kona,
Hawaii
September also found me in Kona to help verify the builder's
work and workmanship on the 65' x 35' Teralani 3 daycharter
catamaran. This KHSD catamaran had a few unauthorized
revisions to the plans that had to be sorted out.
I did get to meet the very impressive crew there. They
were, Gary Hoover, the delivery skipper who drove T3 to
Hawaii, Jeff, the everyday charter boat driver, and of
course Jan, the owner of T3.
While there at Honakahou harbor, I got to visit the first
KHSD charter cat ever built, the Kamanu.
I had the pleasure of meeting the skipper, Capt. Jay O'Bannon,
while there.
That cylinder molded 36' x 24' daycharter cat is reported
to be the first daycharter catamaran ever to be certified
by MSC in Washington DC.
Next year she will have been operating continuously for
20 years.
While we were running Teralani 3 out for sea trials, I
got an unexpected surprise. The sister ship to Bob Kukowski's
34' x 14' power cat sped by. Both were built by Force
Marine of Hilo. This boat did not have a name on it, but
it was packed with people and dive gear. I understand
there is a third one that I did not see.
The impressive thing was though she was speeding along
at maybe 20 knots, there was no divergent wave at all
the transom turbulence minimal, probably less than 6".
It makes the boat a very friendly neighbor.
It is also a very economical powercat. I understand that
Bob's boat only drinks 3 gallons of diesel per hour at
20 knots. The hulls are basically 36' sailing charter
cat hulls with a splash flare.
