Posted on: Thursday, September 2, 2004
Hokualaka'i joins Hokule'a 'fleet'
By Jan TenBruggencate
Advertiser Science Writer
The Hawaiian voyaging canoe Hokule'a was scheduled to leave Honolulu at 7 a.m. today on its third sail to the island of Nihoa, this time in the company of its new sister canoe, the speedy, single-masted Hokualaka'i.
Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser "By the time we bring her home to Hilo Oct. 30, she will have crossed all the major channels," said Chad Baybayan, the canoe's captain.
Hokualaka'i will take up residence on the Big Island, where it will serve as an educational platform for schoolchildren. The canoe is owned by the 'Aha Punana Leo Hawaiian immersion school program.
A video and still photography crew from National Geographic will be aboard Hokule'a to prepare a film documentary and a magazine article on Polynesian navigation.
National Geographic is covering traditional navigation in the Pacific as part of a series that also will film in the Himalayas, the ancient Incan city of Machu Picchu in Peru, and Greenland.
The voyaging canoes are expected to arrive at Hanalei Bay on Kaua'i this evening or tomorrow morning. A new crew will fly to meet the vessels tomorrow, for a scheduled dawn departure Saturday for Nihoa.
Navigator Nainoa Thompson said that he, Baybayan and veteran canoe sailor Tava Taupu will be training younger navigators during the voyage, as National Geographic documents the process. Baybayan said another goal will be to develop procedures for keeping canoes together during the sail.
Each of the previous Hokule'a sails to Nihoa in September 2003 and this past May has taken a slightly different route. Thompson said he hopes to go back to the one used last year, which would have him sail to a point within sight of Ni'ihau and Lehua islands at sunset. From there, he would use stars, the moon, wind direction and other clues to establish the course to Nihoa.
After anchoring for the night at Nihoa — the crews do not have U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service permission to go ashore — the sail plan is to tack southeast to the small tuff cone of Ka'ula, and then cross the 17-mile channel to Ni'ihau before returning to Kaua'i.
Thompson said that because of the presence of the film crew, Hokule'a will carry an unusually large contingent of 18 people. The canoe's normal sailing complement is 12 to 14.
The larger canoe has 10 bunks and the smaller, eight. Most crew members share bunks, one sleeping while the other is on watch.
Reach Jan TenBruggencate at jant@honoluluadvertiser.com or (808) 245-3074.
The voyage to Nihoa and back to O'ahu should take about a week and a half. It will be Hokualaka'i's shakedown cruise. The 57-foot double-hulled vessel, which was launched last month, has not crossed an ocean channel.
Jerry Ongies, designer and builder of the new double hull sailing canoe Hokualaka'i, discusses its differences with Hokule'a. The two sailing canoes were to leave Sand Island today to sail to first, Kaua'i, and then to Nihoa in the Northwestern Hawaiian islands.
