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The Honolulu Advertiser
Updated at 8:16 p.m., Sunday, March 1, 2009

Hokulea faces stiff winds today, will try for Palmyra Atoll tomorrow

The voyaging canoe Hokulea will try to set sail again tomorrow for Palmyra Atoll after a trial run today in windy seas.

A crew partially comprising novice sailors and captains- and navigators-in-training took the Hokulea out for about three hours today along the southern coast of O'ahu and faced "plenty of wind," said Pauline Sato, who plans to make the trip to Palmyra.

"We were going a good 7 knots," she said. "The wind was solid. We were flying."

Crew members plan to return to the Hokulea tomorrow around noon to see if conditions improve for the 1,000-mile voyage.

The Palmyra trip is one of a dozen sea trials the Hokulea will undergo this year to train new crews for a possible voyage around the world that will take 37 months.