The two Polynesian voyaging canoes and their escort were scheduled to leave Kawaihae Harbor at 6 a.m. today, about an hour before dawn, on their estimated 20-day voyage to Majuro in the Marshall Islands.

From there, they will hop from island to island through Micronesia.

The canoes are on a long sail that has multiple missions. Both the Hokule'a and Alingano Maisu are conducting crew training and non-instrument navigation training. They will deliver Maisu to Micronesian non-instrument navigator Mau Piailug on the island of Satawal, as a gift to thank him for teaching the navigational art to Hawaiians. They will carry medical personnel through the Aloha Medical Mission through parts of Micronesia to treat residents with limited healthcare available.

And Hokule'a will voyage beyond Micronesia with escort motorsailer Kama Hele on a goodwill trip to the islands of Japan.

The Polynesian Voyaging Society announced yesterday that the canoes will not make a stop off Kaho'olawe, as they had intended, because of powerful winds in the 'Alenuihaha Channel, which they would have to cross to reach Kaho'olawe. They should instead be able to slip southwestward out of Kawaihae and remain south of the worst of the channel winds and seas.

Voyaging canoes engage in considerable customary ceremony in preparation for voyaging, and one part of that preparation was the stop at Kaho'olawe, whose western tip has the name Kealaikahiki, or "the way to Tahiti."

It is a traditional starting point for voyages.

In a press release yesterday afternoon, mission spokeswoman Kathy Thompson said members of the the Kaho'olawe Island Reserve Commission and the Protect Kaho'olawe 'Ohana have been on the island and performed appropriate ceremonies "to open the path for us to go to Micronesia."

"They have been very supportive and have said the canoes need not come, as they have done the appropriate protocol," she said.

At the most recent check, the crew members aboard Hokule'a were skipper Bruce Blankenfeld, Tim Gilliom, Ka'iulani Murphy, Attwood "Maka" Makanani, Kaleo Wong, Nohea Kaiaokamalie, Kalani Wright, Bob Bee, Terry Hee, Dr. Ben Tamura and Russell Amimoto.

On Alingano Maisu, they are captain Shorty Bertelmann, navigator Chadd Paishon, Sesario Sewralur, Jason Urusalim, Athanasio Emaengilpiy, Innocenti Eraekaiut, Norman Tawalimai, Kaipara Nick Marr, Kamoa'e Walk, Keala Kahuanui, Pualani Lincoln and Keaka Mo'ikeha Yasutake. Sewralur, Urusalim, Emaengilpiy, Eraekaiut and Tawalimai are from Micronesia and are learning the specifics of sailing Maisu.

Escort vessel Kama Hele's crew includes captain Mike Taylor, Lee Taylor, Erik Norris, Mark Rhodes, James Hadde and Sam Monaghan.

Reach Jan TenBruggencate at jant@honoluluadvertiser.com.