A Hawaii canoe maker is leaning into local production and branching into tech with a new AI-powered notes app.

• Kamanu Composites has built outrigger canoes in Hawaii for 19 years, putting 55 hours of hand work into each boat.
• Most rivals now build in China at lower cost, so the company is betting on locally made, custom canoes with a personal tie to the paddler.
• Co-founder Keizo Gates has spent four years building a side project called Grug Notes, a notes app blended with ChatGPT that acts like a digital assistant.
• The app's first use is generating training plans for paddlers, replacing the messy spreadsheets the team once relied on.
• Grug Notes is available on a website and the iOS App Store, aimed first at existing canoe customers.

Outlook: Kamanu will start selling the app to its current paddling customers and expand from there if it catches on.