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As the decade of the ‘60’s drew to a close, the State of California underwent a severe recession. Homesick for Hawai`i and desiring to test the waters in the tourism arena, in 1969 Rudy launched AIKANE CATAMARANS, with the original AIKANE at Laurance Rockefeller’s pioneering ‘Mega Resort,’ the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel. Within a year, the fledgling company began the very first boating operation at Ka`anapali, Maui, launching what is, today, a multimillion dollar industry with operations at all the major resort destinations. Shortly thereafter, operations in Honolulu began, culminating with a five boat fleet carrying over one thousand passengers daily on snorkel/swim trips, dinner cruises and custom evening charters. During the AIKANE years up to the present, Rudy never gave up on his first love - designing and sailing ocean-going catamarans: a part-time project started in 1983 literally in the back yard of the Topanga Canyon home of partner and lifelong friend Warren Seaman and assisted by Vince Bartolone and many others, was to enable Rudy to fulfill his life’s dream: to own the Trans Pacific elapsed-time record. When, in 1989, the 62-ft. AIKANE X5 sailed across the finish line at Diamond Head 6 days and 22 hours after leaving Los Angeles, she was the sixth catamaran to bear that name. She was also the last collaborative design effort of C/S/K. The years leading up to her record were punctuated by some unforgettable creative opportunities, and perhaps, some of our best work. We were also blessed by the friendship, creativity and steadfast support of many people, friends both old and new. It is not without irony that a project that sparked a revamping of all our hull designs was traceable, in lineage, to Ancient Polynesia of over 1,500 years ago. In 1974 Rudy met with artist Herb Kane, University of Hawai’i Professor Ben Finney, and well-known Hawai’i waterman Tommy Holmes. Together, they sought to prove that, contrary to the theory expounded by Thor Heyerdahl that the Polynesians had drifted by chance to landfall from the East, the Polynesians were capable of, and had indeed, sailed from the ancestral lands in Tahiti to what is today known as Hawai’i, navigating by the stars. They envisioned a modern replica of an ancient Polynesian Double-Canoe, but lacked the expertise to design and build one. Rudy created the lines and Warren began the construction of the 60-ft. long HOKULE’A, which not only succeeded in sailing to Tahiti and back without the use of modern navigation or instruments, but would transit all of Polynesia three times, covering tens of thousands of miles at sea, and most recently returned from a historic voyage to Rapa Nui (Easter Island). One of our most rewarding projects (and enduring successes) was the creation of the first luxury commercial passenger cat for Developer Chris Hemmeters’ famed Hyatt Regency Maui at Ka’anapali in 1979. Chris’ only instruction with regard to her design was that she was to match, in every respect, the elegance and uniqueness of the resort. Except for this dictum, the design and construction details were left entirely to Rudy, Warren and Vince and Master Boat Builder Gilbert Iwamoto. Today, some twenty one years after she sailed up to the anchorage fronting the Hyatt Regency, KIELE V, named in Hawai’ian for Hemmeters’ daughter, Kelly, remains a perennial favorite of hotel guests and is sold-out days in advance, year-round.
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