Posted on: Tuesday, June 1, 2004

Last solo trip not the end for paddler

By Lee Cataluna
Advertiser Columnist

Tomorrow morning, weather conditions permitting, Donna Kahiwaokawailani Kahakui will set out on her last extreme paddle.

Before dawns breaks, she will leave Hale'iwa in a one-person canoe, cross the Ka'ie'ie channel to Kaua'i and arrive at Kalapaki Bay some 20 hours later. From there, she will go on for two more days, circling Lehua rock west of Ni'ihau.

In the past six years, Kahakui, 40, has completed several amazing feats of strength and endurance:

In 1998, she paddled solo from Maui to O'ahu.

In 1999, she paddled 59 hours to cross from Hawai'i island to O'ahu.

In 2001, she paddled 55 nautical miles up New York's Hudson river.

The mission of these paddles is the mission of Kahakui's life: to raise awareness of our responsibility to the environment. If completing these arduous journeys — feats which would be daunting to most water athletes — gets people to listen to her message, then it's all worth it.

How bad does it get? Kahakui says paddling the 200-plus miles is like running three marathons. "It's the closest thing to death I think a person can feel," she says. "You're just gone. You don't see land for 10 hours or more. I try to think about what doesn't hurt. That's a shorter list."

An escort boat chaperones her trip, and medical personnel keep an eye on her so she doesn't get too dehydrated or delirious. One thing they watch is how fast she's able to climb back into the canoe when she hulis. If she looks like she's in trouble, they yank her out for a rest.

This being her last extreme paddle, Kahakui is looking to pass the torch to others. She has two "next generation" paddlers who will take over on certain legs of the journey.

She also has a group of 30 women who have trained with her in recent months. These women from "all walks of life and many lifestyles," some of whom never paddled a canoe in their lives, committed to "feeling the pain" along with Kahakui. They studied chant, hula and Hawaiian protocol, dieted, exercised, and made ho'okupu of bone fish hooks and feather lei. They will not be in the water with Kahakui, but they will send her out to sea with chants and prayers, and welcoming her back.

Says Kahakui, "The hope is that they have a journey of their own."

This may be her last extreme solo paddle, but her work in environmental education will go on. Kahakui founded Kai Makana, an organization that has brought hands-on environmental education programs to students in Hawai'i, Tahiti and Aoteora. Kai Makana volunteers have done countless stream and beach clean ups, water quality testing projects, native species plantings and community education projects.

For more information, go to www.kaimakana.org.

Lee Cataluna's column runs Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Reach her at 535-8172 or lcataluna@honoluluadvertiser.com.

Correction: Donna Kahiwaokawailani Kahakui's trip in a one-person canoe from Hale'iwa to Kalapaki Bay on Kaua'i was expected to take 20 hours. The number of hours was incorrect in a previous version of this column.