By Sharael Feist
Summer 1996
Martin started out by building custom commercial fishing boats as a teenager with his older brother David Martin. His brother brought him into the business and taught him everything he knows. Now John Martin is one of the leading builders and manufacturers of one-man canoes. Martin was one of the first builders to produce one-man canoes in Hawai’i. His canoes have been very successful with racing and recreational paddlers.
After learning all he could about building custom commercial fishing boats, Martin became interested in building racing kayaks. He trained on a racing kayak for one year. Then in 1988, he began building. Having grown up in Hawai’i, he always loved the ocean. This profession combined his passion for the ocean with something that was challenging to him. “I grew up in the ocean. I just want to build something that would go fast. I like to go fast,” Martin said.
“Martin has never paddled for a canoe club but has a lot of friends who do. Eventually Martin’s canoe paddling friends persuaded him to build a one-man canoe. With the help of Pat Erwin, he began designing his first one-man canoe–the Honukai.
“Pat Erwin was the driving force behind me. He really wanted a one-man,” Martin said. With Martin’s experience in boat building, hull design and Erwin’s experience in paddling, they created a canoe that is durable and easy to paddle.
“We just want to keep the sport fun,” Martin said. The building of the Honukai began in 1992. It was modified from a Tahitian canoe, which is very thin, long and designed for flat water. The Honukai was made shorter and wider to make it easier to handle in rough water. He blended this design with the technology of surf skis and kayaks. He also added a rudder, which made it easier to maneuver. When Martin began designing one-man canoes he was thrilled with the challenge.
“I thought it would be all fun, but found out that it is a lot of work,” Martin said. The name Honukai came about when he was testing the design out in the ocean. He paddled to the Mokulua islands and pulled the canoe up on the beach. While he was sitting there resting a turtle popped his head out of the water to take a look at the canoe. Martin then came up with the name Honukai, which mean “sea turtle” in Hawaiian.
The Honukai proved to be a good canoe in rough water. In 1991, Jim and John Foti won the Kaiwi Challenge team one-man canoe race from Mololokai to O’ahu using the Honukai.
Martin then began to build a two-man canoe in 1994. It is the same design as the Honukai but stretched out to hold two people. Martin and his wife Inez enjoy paddling the two-man together. “There’s nothing like the two-man. With two good paddlers it really moves fast. It’s a good all around boat,” Martin said.
Martin’s latest venture is the Nai’a. It is his newest one-man canoe. It is built mote for racing rather than for recreation. Martin had more experienced paddlers in mind when he was designing this canoe.
It is different from the Honukai. He stretched out the design to 21 feet 6 inches and made it narrower. Martin said this canoe will teach you good balance. The slim, sleek design allows more speed. The seat also has back support and is adjustable with velcro. Martin said these new features make the canoe more comfortable for paddling long distances.
“I wanted the paddler to feel more like a part of the canoe,” Martin said. Martin also changed the size, shape, and angle of the rudder to make it more responsive.
While building this new canoe he had it placed upside down to do the shaping. His nephew told him, “Uncle, it looks like a dolphin!” And so the name Nai’a, which means “dolphin” in Hawaiian, was born. Martin emphasized the dolphin shape even more after the name was bestowed.
The Nai’a is already becoming successful due to the recent win of Sonia Lambert and Loretta Toth, who paddled the Nai’a in the 1996 Kaiwi Challenge team one-man canoe race from Molokai to O’ahu.
Martin plans to constantly change the design of the canoes to make them faster. His goal is to make a one-man canoe that is faster than a kayak. He said his biggest challenge is to build canoes that have good form and function. Martin said that building canoes has given him the chance to meet a lot of nice people.
“If I can make a living and have fun doing it I’ll be happy,” Martin said.