Weather may finally clear for Hokule'a
By Jan TenBruggencate
Advertiser Science Writer
HANALEI BAY, Kaua'i — Patience is a key feature of Nainoa Thompson's version of Polynesian non-instrument navigation. Patience, and minute observation.
Jan TenBruggencate • The Honolulu Advertiser
"The ability to survive at sea is about making good judgments about nature," Thompson said yesterday, standing on a beachside lawn, looking out at the voyaging canoe Hokule'a at anchor.
Hokule'a watch commander and videographer Na'alehu Anthony checks the radio box aboard the voyaging canoe. The crew hopes to set sail for the northern end of the Hawaiian archipelago.
The canoe's crew yesterday endured a third day of delay of their voyage to the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, but spirits lifted with clearing skies and the return of the tradewind pattern.
"I think we go tomorrow. I'm pretty sure," Thompson said. He told the crew to be ready to haul anchor for a 6 a.m. departure today.
The northeast trades, which are the most common weather condition in the Islands, permit an easy sail up to the northern end of the Hawaiian archipelago, which some call the leeward islands and others the kupuna or ancestral islands. The northwestern end of the chain is much older than the main islands, and it contains archaeological evidence of habitation that had ended long before European contact.
The trades are critical to the success of the canoe's voyaging and navigational mission, and those are important to the educational mission — linking the use of traditional Polynesian seafaring techniques with a message of caring for the environment on the lands the early Hawaiians first discovered.
As of yesterday, 67 classrooms from across the state and in the Mainland and Samoa had signed up to make voice contact with the crew during the voyage. The first series of calls yesterday, to schools on O'ahu and in Samoa, were to have been made en route between Nihoa and Mokumanamana Islands, but instead were placed from Hanalei.
Jan TenBruggencate • The Honolulu Advertiser
Canoe sail master Bruce Blankenfeld said the kids asked good questions.
Dennis Chun, Hokule'a watch captain and Hawaiian Studies instructor at Kaua'i Community College, works with a knife, a shower curtain and duct tape to try to waterproof his bunk.
"One question two different groups asked was, we understand about navigating by stars, but how do you navigate in the daytime? I told them the stars are celestial objects, but so are the sun and the moon. In daytime, we can use the sun and sometimes the moon, and the winds, swells and clouds all play a role," he said.
Thompson has been updating crew members during meetings several times each day. He said waiting for proper conditions is a part of the voyaging tradition. Hokule'a waited 28 days to leave New Zealand for Tonga in 1985 and 21 days to leave Rangiroa in French Polynesia for Hawai'i in 1987.
"This is part of the message, too. We wait for the right weather. That's what our ancestors did. We could use GPS (satellite navigation gear) and sail in almost any conditions, but what does that do to our mission?
"Every other boat in the ocean does that. Then how would we be different from them?" Thompson said.
A weather front knocked out the tradewinds over the weekend and enveloped Hanalei Bay in a dark, wet gloom. Frustration with the weather and the delays was directed into work for the crew.
Blankenfeld took his time painstakingly and securely lashing a basket with dishwashing gear in the aftermost compartment of the canoe's port hull. Crewmembers Ann Bell and 'Aulani Wilhelm worked the phones, exploring options in the event further delays developed.
On shore, ship's doctor Cherie Shehata was treating watch captain Kaleo Wong for an infection.
Alongside the Hanalei Pier, a team of North Shore residents organized by Cathy Ham Young and her sons adopted the crew — along with a cluster of Hermosura and Haumea families. They worked under the shelter of a large gray tarp tent, cooking up hot meals, often including fish freshly caught in Hanalei Bay.
