honoluluadvertiser.com

Sponsored by:

Comment, blog & share photos

Log in | Become a member
The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Monday, December 1, 2003

HAWAI'I'S ENVIRONMENT
Paddlers take on 85-mile challenge

By Jan TenBruggencate
Advertiser Columnist

There are plenty of ways to enjoy the Hawaiian environment, from a quiet sunset on a west-facing beach to volunteer weed control with picks and machetes.

And some folks just like to go where no one has ever gone before, at least recently.

A bunch of canoe paddlers on a Saturday in early November left Hale'iwa under the full moon, at 2:30 a.m., and headed west, for Kaua'i.

Power boats, cruise ships and even sailing canoes cross the Ka'ie'iewaho channel with some regularity, but this longest channel among the main Hawaiian Islands is rare-ly crossed by muscle power alone. A couple of paddlers on one-man canoes have done it recently.

And on Nov. 8, a six-seat canoe joined the group. The canoe was the Hoku Ho'okele Wa'a, a Bradley Striker design.

The 85-mile course is the same one used in recent runnings of the sailing canoe race, Na Holo Kai, in which outrigger canoes outfitted with 150-square-foot sails cross the channel. The distance is roughly double that of the World Series of Hawaiian outrigger canoe racing, the Moloka'i to O'ahu Moloka'i Hoe.

The sailing canoe crews are static start to finish, but for the paddling crossing, the 14 paddlers take 30- to 45-minute stints in the boat, and then rest in an escort vessel, the Kihei Boy.

The paddle was the brainchild of Kimokeo "Bully" Kapahulehua of the Kihei Canoe Club on Maui. The crew included paddlers from Maui, O'ahu and Kaua'i, ranging in age from 21 to 55. Paddler Pepe Trask said conditions were ideal, with 5-foot seas and light trade winds.

The crew paddled through the pre-dawn hours, and through most of the day, finishing in 13 hours, 6 minutes. Sailing canoes often finish in half that time.

For Kapahulehua, the trip was the completion of a mission to cross the state's big channels. Earlier in the year, he led a crew the 66 miles from the leeward Big Island to Kihei on Maui, across the 'Alenuihaha. Later, his crew crossed the Kaiwi during the 41-mile Moloka'i Hoe.

The problem with crossing the channel to Kaua'i is that it's so long that only a handful of crews can safely count on starting and finishing in daylight. Some of the paddlers on Kapahulehua's crew are discussing establishing an annual race that is linked to the November full moon, starting, as this group did, well before dawn to finish in daylight.

It would be a marathon event that mimics how many Polynesians cross channels — at night, when they have the stars to guide them.

Reach Jan TenBruggencate at jant@honoluluadvertiser.com or (808) 245-3074.