BUILDING a DREAM by Gary T
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BUILDING A DREAM By Gary T. Kubota STAR-BULLETIN HE two wooden koa masts noe Club, was an avid waterman and began came from a master canoe- sailing outrigger canoes at a time when ca- builder on Maui. noe sailing was a lost art in Hawaii. The hull was made of layers of plywood Finney, a University of Hawaii cultural cTovered with a protective shell of fiber- anthropologist and former San Diego glass, and the sails were canvas instead of surfer, had built and tested a 40-foot ver- traditional lauhala. sion of a Hawaiian double-hulled canoe in Despite having to combine modern with 1965, as a first step toward developing a traditional materials, builders of the voyag- larger version to sail to Tahiti. ing canoe Hokule‘a kept as close as possi- Kane, who had spent his late teens and ble to the shape and weight of an authentic early adult life in the Midwest, left his Polynesian voyaging canoe while fighting career as an artist in advertising and pub- an uphill battle to gain financial support for lishing in Chicago to return to Hawaii to pur- their project more than 30 years ago. sue his goal of building a voyaging canoe. Their objective was to sail to Tahiti from Finney recalled Kane and Holmes coming Hawaii using traditional Pacific wayfinding to see him in the early 1970s. techniques that did not require western in- “We each had our own vision of not only struments, thereby refuting historians and making a scientific and academic point of archaeologists who argued that Polyne- setting the record straight but also having sians were incapable of making long-dis- the Polynesians themselves taking the lead tance navigated voyages. in the process,” said Finney, who was the “Our project was a hard sell,” recalled founding president of the Polynesian Voy- chief designer Herb Kane. “Some people aging Society. thought we were nuts … But enough peo- Later, the society, under new leadership ple believed in what we were doing.” from Myron “Pinky” Thompson, built the What Kane and co-founders Ben Finney traditional Hawaiian voyaging canoe, the and the late Tommy Holmes did was build a Hawai‘iloa. 62-foot, double-hulled canoe that carried a Some crew members of the Hokule‘a crew of 15 people 2,400 miles from Honolua formed a nonprofit on the Big Island and Bay on Maui to Pape‘ete, Tahiti, in 1976. developed the voyaging canoe, Makali‘i. Also aboard were a dog, chicken, and a Along with Hokule‘a, Hawai‘iloa and pig, along with 1.25 tons of water and a ton Makali‘i made the Hawaii-Tahiti-Marquesas of canned, packaged and dried foods. voyage in 1995. Kane, whose grandparents Finney said he was aware at the time that were taro farmers in Waipio Valley on the Big some people thought Holmes, himself and Island, said he was aware of ancient chants Kane — “two haoles and a Hawaiian from describing the lore of voyaging canoes. Chicago” — seemed an unlikely trio to One of them was “ ‘Ei‘A Hawaii” or launch such a project. “Behold Hawaii,” known to be composed But the three who founded the nonprofit centuries ago by the navigator of King Polynesian Voyaging Society in 1973 Moikeha after sighting the Big Island while demonstrated a love for sailing and a pas- returning from Tahiti . sion for showing that native Hawaiians “My primary motive was to establish the were capable of traveling long distances on recognition that the voyaging canoe had to voyaging canoes using the intelligence gath- be the central artifact of Polynesian cul- ered through their knowledge of nature. ture, because without the canoes there Holmes, a member of the Outrigger Ca- would be no Polynesia,” Kane said. T H E P I O N E E R S Herb Kane, Ben Finney and Tommy Holmes founded the Polynesian Voyaging Society in 1973 to build a deep-sea canoe to sail from Hawaii to Tahiti and back. This trio and several others were instrumental in advancing the vision of canoe voyaging. Herb Kane, 78, Ben Finney, 72, cul- Tommy Holmes, Kawika native Hawaiian tural anthropolo- 1945-1993, a free- Kapahulehua, artist and co- gist and co-founder lance writer, was a a Niihau native who founder of the Poly- of the Polynesian co-founder of the speaks fluent nesian Voyaging Voyaging Society, Polynesian Hawaiian, served Society, was the recruited and Voyaging Society. as the canoe’s general designer supervised the captain. and construction training of the supervisor for Hokule‘a crew. Hokule‘a. Mau Piailug, 74, Myron “Pinky” Nainoa Thompson, Eddie Aikau, Satawal, Microne- Thompson, 53, and Myron’s 1946-1978, sian islander, was 1924-2001, was son, became in renowned big-wave the navigator on instrumental in 1980 the first native surfer, was lost the historic trip to laying the Hawaiian in after the Hokule‘a Tahiti and later was foundation for centuries to was swamped on a mentor to future future ocean navigate a voyaging 1978 voyage. His Hawaiian naviga- journeys by the canoe from Hawaii devotion inspired tors. Polynesian to Tahiti. others to continue Voyaging Society. sailing. PHOTOGRAPHS BY MONTE COSTA EXCEPT EDDIE AIKAU, COURTESY OF AIKAU FAMILY I N H O N O R A list of those who served aboard the Hokule‘a on its first voyage to and from Hawaii and Tahiti. An asterisk denotes those who are deceased. MONTE COSTA Mau Piailug, SATAWAL, MICRONESIA • Clifford Ah Mow, HONOLULU Hokule‘a captain Bruce Blankenfeld, Shorty Bertelmann, WAIMEA, HAWAII • Ben Finney, HONOLULU • Sam Kalalau, HANA, MAUI above at right, works with crew “Hokule‘a has rewritten our Hawaiian history in a way members during a training voyage for Boogie Kalama, KEAAU, HAWAII • Kawika Kapahuelehua, HONOLULU the Rapa Nui trip as the canoe sails Buffalo Keaulana, WAIANAE • John Kruse, KOLOA, KAUAI • Leonard Puputauiki, TAHITI that has … restored our culture, heritage and ancestry.” near Kalaupapa on the north shore of Dukie Kuahulu, HONOLULU • Billy Richards, HONOLULU • Snake Ah Hee, LAHAINA, MAUI Molokai in 1997. Inset at right, Kainoa Lee, WAIMEA, HAWAII • Kimo Lyman, HALEIWA • Gordon Pi‘ianai‘i, HONOLULU Hokule‘a is joined by New Zealand’s Te Aurere, background, during the Penny Rawlins Martin, KALAMAULA, MOLOKAI • Maka‘ala Yates, OREGON • Ben Young, HONOLULU 1995 Na ‘Ohana Holo Moana or “The David Lewis, NEW ZEALAND* • Nainoa Thompson, HONOLULU Voyaging Families of the Ocean” to Mel Kinney, HONOLULU • Tommy Holmes, HONOLULU* • Dave Lyman, HONOLULU* the Marquesas Islands. NAINOA THOMPSON ~ Navigator of the Hokule‘a Rodo Williams, TAHITI* • Andy Espirto, HONOLULU* • Keani Reiner, LIHUE, KAUAI* A T S O V O Y A G E S S P A N N I N G 3 0 Y E A R S C E T N O M !!!1976 !!!1978 !!!1995 !!!2000-2001 A A N I >> Hokule‘a overturned in heavy seas in T >> 7,000 total miles. Hokule‘a and T >> Hokule‘a’s millennium statewide sail, entitled “Our Islands, T S S E O O L the Molokai Channel on an attempt to Hawai‘iloa sailed to Papeete, Tahiti, Our Canoe” from Sept. 22, 2000, through May 20, 2001, L C C U E E B sail to Tahiti. The crew was rescued after from Hilo from Feb. 11 to March 4 as celebrated the vessel’s 25 years of voyaging by visiting T T - N N R A two nights, except for renowned big- O part of the Na ‘Ohana Holo Moana or O students and families in two dozen communities on Kauai, T M M his month S wave surfer and lifeguard Eddie Aikau, “The Voyaging Families of the Ocean.” Oahu, Lanai, Molokai, Maui and the Big Island. who had volunteered to paddle on a The voyaging canoe Makali‘i sailed from TTHE marks the 30th surfboard to Lanai for help. He was never Kawaihae, Hawaii, to Tautira, Tahiti, !!!2003 seen again, but his valor and sense of from Feb. 28 to March 27. On the voyage >> A cultural protocol group, Na Kupu‘eu Paemoku, traveled duty gave birth to the popular saying, from Tahiti to the Marquesas, Hokule‘a, anniversary of to Nihoa aboard Hokule‘a in the Northwestern Hawaiian “Eddie Would Go.” Hawai‘iloa and Makali‘i were joined by Islands to conduct traditional ceremonies. the historic Hawaii-Tahiti three South Pacific canoes. The journey T !!!1980 celebrated the resurgence in the canoe- !!!2004 building arts. While preparing for the sail of the Hokule‘a, which >> 6,000 total miles. Hawaii to Tahiti from trip and building Hawai‘iloa, Hokule‘a >> 2,500 total miles. Hokule‘a sailed to the most Northwestern IRST March 15 to April 17. Nainoa Thompson F completed the 6,000-mile crew members reached a new level of Hawaiian islands as part of a statewide educational initiative successfully guided the Hokule‘a awareness of the interdependence of called “Navigating Change.” The trip brought attention to the thousands of miles, becoming the first culture and the environment when they diverse environment in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, roundtrip journey on July native Hawaiian in centuries to navigate were unable to find koa trees in Hawaii including 7,000 species in 4,500-square miles of relatively using Pacific island wayfinding methods. forests large enough to build voyaging undisturbed coral reef. In a span of 18 days, a U.S. Fish and 26, 1976. Mau Piailug Mau Piailug was aboard as mentor to Cook Island voyaging-canoe crew members celebrate canoes. Alaska natives offered the Holoua Stender and Kame- Wildlife Service educator on the Hokule‘a spoke via satellite Thompson, who was the navigator on navigated the canoe to after arriving in Taiohae, Nuku Hiva, Marquesas Islands, Hawaii people the gift of logs for canoe- hameha Schools students place telephone to more than 1,800 students from as far away as the return trip to Hawaii from May 13 to on April 14, 1995, during the “Na ‘Ohana Holo Moana” or building.