We build canoes.

Jobs! We're hiring.

July 01, 2025

Our goal is simple -- to build the best canoes in the world and do it locally in Hawai'i. We strive for sustainability, happy customers, and happy workers. If you like building things, we're hoping that you might want to join us.

We're looking for people that can learn to build canoes from start to finish. This is a full-time position. We want everyone on our team to be able to perform the entire process. Primary responsibilities include lamination (laying up carbon fiber and epoxy, vacuum bagging, autoclave processing), finishing (quality checks, wet sanding, polishing, rigging and final detailing), repairs, and general production tasks as needed.

We need someone who takes pride in quality work, likes to work independently and as part of a small team, wants to master a craft, has good attention to detail, and can handle physical work.

Starting $20-25+/hr depending on experience. Benefits include full medical, dental, vision, 401k, and 50% off a canoe every 2 years. We are very willing to teach and train people with no direct experience, but we like to see some examples of work, art, or projects that demonstrate your skills, ability to learn, and passion. Experience with composites, woodworking, auto body, surfboards, or similar hands-on work is helpful. Experience and interest in paddling is always a plus.

To apply, email a cover letter and resume to keizo@kamanucomposites.com

Kristin Foster, Kaiwi OC1 World Champion 2025

May 27, 2025

We're late on this race recap, but the Pa'a Kaiwi Solo is still fresh in our minds. Kaiwi delivered. And so did Team Kamanu. It was another amazing day on the water.

Kristin Foster surfed and battled to win, capturing her 2nd world championship title in a time of 4:12:59. She was followed closely by Lauren Spalding at 4:13:33. If you know OC1 racing, you might have some sense of what an accomplishment this is. Lauren Spalding is the Serena Williams of OC1 paddling, the goat, with something like 10 wins. We're simply over the moon for Kristin and incredibly proud she chose Noio as her canoe.

Triston Kaho‘okele-Santos traded bumps with the best, coming in a close third-place finish this year on the men's side. He finished in 3:28:11, on the heels of Kevin Ceran-Jerusalemy (3:26:57) and Tuteariimaroura Hotua (3:27:39), both from Tahiti, who captured 1st and 2nd. We're so proud of the level Triston has reached. Keep on pushing.

Travis Grant followed with an incredible performance, in 5th place, followed by Manutea Millon and Steeve Teihotaata in 6th and 7th, respectively—four Noio in the top seven.

Beata Markin rounded out the elite women with a 4th place. Markus Lizzaraga captured 24th overall and 3rd in the Jrs, and it was simply an incredible performance for a young and upcoming paddler. Hi‘iaka Aipia-White Eagle finished 1st in the 14-16 Jr Women!

And this past weekend, the Kanaka Ikaika Molokai Challenge just happened! Congrats to Kristin and Beata for capturing the women's relay!

We want to give one more huge shoutout to our Team Kamanu sponsors for supporting our athletes and sharing in the love of paddling. Mahalo Prometheus Construction, Tahiti Nui, Kalapawai Market, Coconut Traveler, and Hawaiian Paddle Sports!

Doing our part to reverse inflation :)

September 16, 2024

When we launched the Noio in 2022, we were facing unprecedented inflation, and our company at the time had the most significant overhead we'd ever had. And our prices had been stable since 2016. The math only worked with all prices over $6000. Now that the dust has settled from the pandemic, we have less overhead, have gotten more efficient, and, to be honest, we feel the pressure of cheaper canoes available from overseas; it's time for an adjustment: We're reducing the starting price to $5500 for all white, a significant drop from the original $6300. Solid color choices are now $5900. Fully custom or team paint remains $6500. Complete pricing here.

It's a change that will allow more people to consider Hawai'i-made canoes. And it will make shipments slightly more accessible. We know we'll never compete directly on price -- it's impossible doing what we do. But we aim to make the best product AND we want Noio to get paddled as much as possible.

With these changes, we are gauging interest in potential container shipments to New Zealand and Japan and are still soliciting interest in the next Hong Kong and Australia shipments. Please email info@kamanucomposites.com if you're interested in any of those locations or pass the word on to anyone who might be. Final shipping and customs pricing is contingent on order quantity and container cost.

Aloha,

Keizo Gates
Co-founder/Designer/Engineer
Kamanu Composites, LLC
We Build Canoes

Rewriting the Mission

September 05, 2024

This is part of a series of emails/blog posts as we work through some website updates! More to come.

As a naive 22-year-old, I wrote our original mission statement in 2007: "Become the most amazing company in the entire world... and build good canoes while we're at it."

It was hard to imagine then that I'd still be building canoes in 2024. But here we are. We have built a lot of good canoes—something like 4,000 of them— totaling around 300,000 hours of labor, leading to millions of hours of use on the ocean, countless waves, and an infinite amount of stoke.

We've made thousands of memories, employed hundreds of people, and mentored dozens of students. We've cultivated an incredible and supportive customer base (that's you!) who pay a premium for the things we craft. We pioneered the unlimited class of sixmans and experimented with dozens of prototype canoes. During 2020, we made nearly a million face shields in a pivot we never expected; nonetheless, a challenge met with purpose, pride, and unimaginable speed. We have built our latest shop from scratch, with a million dollars of advanced manufacturing equipment. And I can proudly say that we are good at building canoes. The Noio is lighter, stronger, and better built than anything we've ever done.

But, the most amazing company in the world? Laughable. We're not even the top company in the building we occupy. We struggle to break even most years. With some regularity, when enough canoes have gone out the door each Friday, we joke that we survived another week. But it's not a joke. We remain perched on the narrow precipice between failure and eeking out a meager survival. It's a constant battle to keep operations functional, let alone efficient. We struggle to market our canoes and story and have survived by working crazy hours without expecting short-term financial returns. We've made wild strategic errors when we had working capital and debt financing. And, after 17 years, it feels like we're still figuring it out.

But the purpose and the need to exist remain. It's more vital than ever. Canoe building needs to exist in Hawaii. It's one of the oldest trades in the world. It's culturally significant. And the American in me won't accept China straight-up being better than us at making most things. In Hawai'i, where manufacturing is next to non-existent, we must maintain some industrial capacity (our pivot to face shields confirmed it's critical to a resilient society) and prove that local youth don't have to move away to do extraordinary things. Outrigger canoes are the one thing I can stand up for, face the world, and say we can do it best. Not the cheapest or in the most quantity, but the best.

As I consider the next 17 years of Kamanu Composites, we must ensure Hawaiian outrigger canoes are made in Hawai'i. And so, after all these years, here's a little update to our mission: "Build the best outrigger canoes as locally and sustainably as possible." That's it. It embodies our core belief in crafting a great product from start to finish the best way we know how. And while we can't predict the future, this is one thing we'll hold close to our core.

Keizo Gates
Co-founder/Designer/Engineer
Kamanu Composites, LLC
We Build Canoes

Noio in Kaiwi Solo 2024

May 10, 2024

Pa'a Kaiwi Solo 2024 was historic. It was the biggest, windiest, fastest, and gnarliest channel in OC-1 race history. Congrats to all who crossed, but especially to Kamanu Team rider Lindsey Shank, who won the women's division, crossing in 3:59, notably a new world record and the first female under four hours. And Pat Dolan crushed his own record by 12 minutes in a staggering 3:19. These records undoubtedly stand for some time.

Kamanu Team rider Triston Kaho'okele Santos didn't make it easy for Pat, putting pressure on all day to finish in 3:20. Also on the Noio, Kristin Foster (2023 winner) rounded out 3rd in the Women's division, and Steeve Teihotaata and Manutea Millon placed 4th and 5th in the men's division. Markus and Hi'aka completed their first solo crossings in the 16 and under division. We couldn't be more proud of our team. Three of the top 5 overall and two of the top 3 women choose Noio and are so honored to support them.

After seeing Steeve and Triston, along with a handful of canoes, get swallowed by clean-out sets mid-channel, we are grateful that everyone made it in safely. It really was the most wild conditions in at least 20 years.

Thank you to our team sponsors: Prometheus Construction, O'iwi Ocean Gear, Hawaiian Canvas, and Kalapawai Market.