Updated at 2:48 p.m., Sunday, February 25, 2007
Hokule'a faces heavy rains, squalls enroute to Pohnpei
Advertiser Staff
The crews of the voyaging canoes Hokule'a and Alingano Maisu, who have little shelter aboard the open canoes, are being pounded by rains as they push through squall after squall on their voyage from Majuro Atoll to Pohnpei.The vessels were close to halfway through that trip today, but crew members were tiring of the weather.
Hokule'a crew member Ka'iulani Murphy, in an e-mail sent by satellite from the canoe, said the crews are wearing foul weather gear constantly, but it does little to keep them dry.
"Foul weather gear merely kept the water against our bodies warm," she said.
After drifting for a period, Hokule'a skipper Bruce Blankenfeld elected this weekend to take a tow to meet airline schedules at Pohnpei, where a number of crew members are disembarking and are scheduled to fly home, and others will be waiting to climb aboard.
Polynesian Voyaging Society president Nainoa Thompson said that despite the towing, the voyage will continue to be navigated without modern instruments.
"The decision to take a tow from the escort boat is driven by the fact that the canoes need to recapture time that has been lost due to the delayed departure from Hawai'i and the longer than expected sail from Hawai'i to Majuro. While being towed by the escort boat, the canoes will continue to be navigated without instruments, with the navigators setting the direction in which the escort boat heads," he said in an e-mail posted on the society Web site.
