Wolshin is about surfing and business

KAPA‘A — As he fights kidney failure, Steve “Duke” Wolshin continues pursuing opportunities as a specialty car wash, surfboard rental, and foreclosure fraud consultant.

Known as “Duke” in the car and real estate business, and as “FurCat” in the surfing world, Wolshin has a proud history as a surfer who fell in love with Kaua‘i in 1970, and went on to delve into an array of projects including auto promotions, timeshare sales and vacation rentals.

For years the front yard of the duplex at 4-1176 Kuhio Highway in Kapa‘a was filled with the products of a beach-chair repair shop that recently closed. Wolshin said the space is now available for another business.

The yard is now filled with cars waiting for the services of Wolshin’s Freedom Waterless Carwash. It can take up to two hours for a full job and the customers seem willing to wait under the shade tent or shop nearby.

Wolshin began selling the Freedom Hawai‘i products over two years ago and followed through with the full service wash after requests about one year ago. He said the products are popular as non-oil-based products with an emulsification process of lifting dirt.

He said the carnauba wax products are also popular for surfboards and boats to help make them faster.

As a surfboard and standup paddleboard sales and rental, Wolshin continues operating FurCat Surf Adventures as a mobile operation. He takes beginners and experts all around the island to surf.

Wolshin was hooked on Kaua‘i after surfing Middles, Hanalei Bay and Tunnels. “And the one and only Lawa‘i,” he added.

Wolshin said his FurCat boards are from Terry Chung. The walls of his office are covered with photos with Chung and other local legends.

These surfing friends are still making boards or running a business that has to do with the sport. “They are still around and still surfing,” he said.

Ted Ilic is another business partner who uses the Kapa‘a office to run Ted & Sons Maintenance, a portable power wash and window business. He recalled Wolshin’s surfboard leash innovation in the 1970s that helped surfers from losing new boards on the rocks.

At the time, he said surfers complained that polyurethane ankle-board leashes would stretch under strong currents and snap against the fins.

“His surf leash was the only one that would hold,” Ilic said.

“Wolshin is a great guy who is always helping the community,” Ilic said. “He is an entrepreneur, and a great surfer who is always giving. He will be the first guy you call if you are stranded to come and get you.”

Wolshin studied business sales and marketing in California, and brought experience in the car business to Hawai‘i. He conducted training and sales for “blaster” and “hammer” sales — the little-money down programs — for dealerships on Kaua‘i, Maui and the Big Island.

He ran his own dealership, Duke’s Auto Sales, until his teenage daughter, Crystal, developed a brain tumor in 2002 and underwent surgeries at the Mayo Clinic. Now at age 24, he said Crystal lives with her mother Rhonda on Kaua‘i. A second daughter, Kandace, 21, works as a professional sports model while attending college, he said.

As a Realtor, Wolshin said he sold his California properties and went into the timeshare industry in Hawai‘i and Colorado. Over a 30-year career he said accumulated sales of $500 million for 16 properties led him to become a broker exclusively for timeshares.

For the first 20 years, Wolshin said timeshare was a great industry. Today, he said the homeowners are no longer in charge of their properties with the corporations, and don’t have much of a say.

The maintenance fees have became a source of profit, and the points system has diluted the real value of the property, he said. Re-sales continue to work well for some properties but others are hurting with these programs, he added.

“Its a tough, tough industry, but we still like it,” he said. “My family uses their timeshare to travel around the world for snow boarding and skiing.”

Wolshin continues to work as a foreclosure fraud consultant to help people keep their homes.

As a local musician, Wolshin established FurCat Rock & Roll. He plays the keyboards in a soundtrack he created for his surfing and snowboarding videos of special spots around Hawai‘i and the mainland, South Africa, Fiji, Indonesia and South America.

Five years ago Wolshin was diagnosed with kidney failure and went to Lahore, Pakistan, for a transplant that lasted four years. He is now on a donor list for another transplant.

“I didn’t even know I was dying,” he said. Kidney failure is a silent disease where you don’t even know you have it until you’re almost dead.”

Dialysis is exhausting but Wolshin said he can find enough strength to surf if the waves are right.

He undergoes treatment three times a week for five hours at a time.

“The people at Liberty Dialysis do a great job keeping me alive,” Wolshin said.

Wolshin said a business break-in on July 19, resulted in the theft of his computer, camera, tools, car-wash products and his keyboard. The computer has all his business forms and records.

“It has really put us behind,” he said. “I can’t print out receipts or price sheets. It has shut my business down.”

The computer also contains his daughter’s medical information and a completed draft of his autobiography, “30 Minutes to Death,” which focuses on his bout with kidney failure. He was making final edits before sending it to a publisher.

Contact Wolshin at 639-2353 or the FurCat page on Facebook.

• Tom LaVenture, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 224) or tlaventure@thegardenisland.com.