Spent a fine day with Captain Kiko, who was awesome enough to help me move what appears to be my new boat from Waimea to my house in Volcano.  We started before dawn with the hopes that he could make a meeting in Volcanoes Nat. Park at 10am, but alas, moving a 27′ boat just isn’t as easy as it sounds.  The previous owner and I have agreed to barter at least part of the purchase price for work on her home and whatever else she feels like throwing at me.  For catamaran enthusiasts, she is the current owner of the historic Makani Kai, a sister boat to Woody Brown’s famous Manu Kai.

My new boat is a Wharram Tane catamaran, designed by James Wharram of England, and was built originally on Oahu (in the 80′s, I think).  Kiko related an interesting tale about the boat, where it was blown off it’s moorings in a Kona gale from Kailua Bay on Oahu, sent hundreds of miles towards California until the trades came back, and somehow blown back between the islands without hitting any of them until found by a fisherman 50 miles off the West coast of the Big Island.  Dismasted but floating, it was claimed by the fisherman, and then passed through seven or 8 owners over the years, often without touching water.  Kiko has moved it perhaps 10 times over the years, and I think he hopes this was his last!  I’ll be giving some attention to a few soft spots in the hulls, some rebuilding of hatches, and fresh paint to get it on the water.  Bigger projects down later on will be changing the rig, rebuilding the decking, and changing the rig to sail more efficiently into the wind (to include some sort of daggerboard additions).  Yes, the driveway is full.