1956 U-8

1956

U-8 Hawaii Kai III (USA )

Owner - Edgar Kaiser (Oakland)
Designer - Ted Jones
Builder - Les Staudacher
Length - 30ft
Beam - 12ft 3in
Hull - 3 pointer
Colours - coral pink & cream [also described as "tropical rose and coral mist"], no trim on tail fin
Detail - metal clad plywood
Weight - 6,600
Power - V12 Allison
Drivers - Howard Gidovlenko & Jack Regas

Winner of Sahara Cup & Rogers Memorial Trophy

Detail - Mobil horse on tail; plus Hula Girl, trim on tail fin
Power - V12 Rolls-Royce Merlin
Driver - Jack Regas

Winner of Silver Cup; Roger's Memorial; Sahara Cup; & Madison Cup
Won the Nat'l Championship
Set the World's (kilometer) Record - 195.32 mph.

Hawaii Kai sets mile straightaway record

Hawaii Kai sets record

Setting the world straightaway speed record in 1957.

Owner - Slo-Mo Crew (Mike Welsch, Seattle)
Detail - High Point Badge
Driver - Jack Regas

Winner of the Gold Cup - 103.4 mph. on Lake Wash.

Owner - Joe Mascari
Detail - M B Y C burgee on tail fin
Drivers - Brien Wygle & Ron Musson

B/F - 3rd

U-8 Cary's Hawaii Kai

Detail – Cary’s Propeller on tail fin
Driver - Ron Musson

Winner of Reno Regatta Trophy

U-20 Miss U. S. 5 (1)

Boat leased to George Simon (Detroit)

Colour - all red
Driver - Don Wilson

B/F -- 7th

A photo of a model of Miss US 5 (1) can found on Jeff Dunn's Casper website

U-8 Hawaii Kai

Owner - Edgar Kaiser (Orcas Island, Wa.)
Hull - rebuilt as a two-seater; later burned in a Viking funeral

"The coral-mist-and-tropical-rose speedster owned by industrialist-sportsman Edgar Kaiser was National High Point champion in 1957 when she won five straight races: the Silver Cup; the President's Cup; Rogers Memorial Trophy; the Governor's Cup; and the Sahara Cup. The previous year she won the Rogers Memorial Trophy, and the Sahara Cup. Semi-retired for the 1958 season, she entered only one race, the Gold Cup, and won it. On Lake Washington in 1957 Hawaii Kai III set the mile straightaway record of 187.627 mph and the kilometer record of 195.329 mph. She has a Rolls Royce Merlin engine, measures 30 feet in length, weighs 6,600 pounds, was designed by Ted Jones and was built in 1956 by Les Staudacher. Early in 1959 she was sold to Joe Mascari of New York."

(Reprinted from This is Hydroplaning by Paul Lowney [1959])