Hawaiian beauties on display

By Bob Krauss
Advertiser Columnist

She is graceful, slender, dainty and strong, loves to compete, was born on land but comes alive in the ocean. She has an unmistakable personality and is quintessentially Hawaiian. Who is she?

The koa outrigger racing canoe, of course.

On Saturday, from 5 to 9 p.m. at the Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center's mall level, you're invited to talk story about Hawaiian koa racing canoes with old-timers who build and race them.

One school of thought maintains that the ancient Hawaiians' racing canoe was as sleek and fast as the koa racing canoe of today. Another school holds that, like the only other indigenous Hawaiian vessel, the sampan, the racing canoe has evolved.

Veteran voyager and paddler Mike Tongg, who organized the display, compared the Malia, built in the 1930s, with the Kaala, built in 1983, both on display. Each boasts a history of winning competitions.

"See how the Malia is bellied out more, from the middle to the stern," said Tongg.

"Notice how the Kaala's bow is sleeker, the hull tapers off at the stern, while Malia is wider at the stern."

Tongg believes development of the Hawaiian racing canoe was under way at the time of Kamehameha, but the canoes weren't as sleek then.

Canoe voyager and builder Wally Froiseth doesn't think there is much difference in the design of racing canoes in Kamehameha's time and the koa canoes of today, except the canoes were not standardized then, because size and shape depended on the log from which they were hewn.

So racing canoes on which ancient fans bet tapa, taro, chickens, pigs and wives were probably of different sizes.

A crew of five might challenge a crew of four. Who won depended as much on the paddlers as on the canoe. The same is true today, but rules have standardized the canoes' length and weight.

The oldest koa racing canoe in Hawai'i is the A'a at Bishop Museum, built for Prince Kuhio in 1902 in Kona. Froiseth said there isn't much difference between the A'a, Malia, Kaala and three other koa canoes now racing — the Hanakioki, Leilani and Kakina — although the latter have all have been modified over the years for more speed.

Tongg and Froiseth agree the big difference in canoes is between koa and fiberglass, which have become lighter, sleeker, faster. So what is special about the koa racing canoe?

"It's something that was alive," Froiseth explained.

"It was growing. When you cut it down, it still lives on the water. A fiberglass canoe is like a car: A new model pops out of the mold every year."