Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 8, Number 9, 1 September 1991 — Hawaiian voyaging canoe takes shape [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Hawaiian voyaging canoe takes shape

by Deborah Ward Editor, Ka Wai Ola O OHA Under the peaked roof of the eanoe halau at Bishop Museum's Atherton Halau, the twin hulls of a new Polynesian voyaging eanoe are slowly taking shape. In three months' time, working on Saturdays, kalai wa'a (eanoe builder) Wright Bowman Jr.'s crew has transformed what began as 65-foot long logs into sleekly shaped hulls that will be six feet deep when completed. This month, Bowman will turn upright with hydraulic jacks the two 59-foot-long Sitka spruce hulls. He and his crew of seven to 12 volunteers will then begin to hollow out the double hulls to a thickness of six inches and width of four feet. By Apnl 1992, Bowman projects they will have completed construction of the hull, the gunwales and the manu (bow and stern endpieces). Also to be added will be crosspieces and platform deck, and a mast of koa wood. All add-on pieces will be lashed together with sennit cordage made of coconut fibers, since there are insufficient supplies of the traditional olona cordage. So far, 18,000 feet of sennit has been prepared, but at least 10 miles of cord will be needed, said Bowman. Lauhala sails have been made and are being tested, Bowman added. The eanoe will be assembled at Kualoa Regional Park and then will begin a series of off-shore test voyages, in preparation for a long-distance voyage in 1994 from Nukuhiva in the Marquesas Island to Hawai'i. The voyage and canoe-building project are part of a five-year project of the Native Hawaiian Culture and Arts Program (NHCAP). The program was established in 1987 to implement a 15-year strategic plan to develop programs to recover, revitalize and perpetuate endangered Hawaiian cultural traditions and arts. The director of NHCAP is Lynette Paglinawan.

Among the unique features of this project is its attention to teaching lost arts of eanoe construction, cultivation of natural resources, and sea training of eanoe crews for safety and knowledge of Polynesian navigation methods. Hokule'a navigator Nainoa Thompson notes that Hawaiians built hundreds of canoes in the centuries since they settled the islands, but that it is ironic today a eanoe cannot be built totally out of authentic materials due to degradation of Hawaii's natural environment and plant resources. He hopes the NHCAP project will foster replanting of traditional Hawaiian plants. The Hawaiian name of the eanoe is Hawai'i Loa, after the name of the first navigator from the Marquesas who is said to have guided the first voyage of discovery to Hawai'i, and for whom the islands are named. The logs first arrived in Honolulu last year from Alaska and were allowed to season for 15 months before work began.

Blueprints for the voyaging eanoe were drawn upon by Barry Choy and were based on traditional eanoe designs. Canoe builder Wright Bowman, Jr., who has been building canoes for 30 years, is one of few persons in Hawai'i today who is knowledgeable in construction of Polynesian voyaging canoes. He named Wally Froiseth and Phillip Naone as two other experts. Bowman said he was happy to see his eanoe building method resembles that of Maori eanoe builders as seen in the Maon film, "Mana Waka," whieh was shown in August in Hawai'i. Since the canoe's size makes it impractical today to use only hand tools and traditional methods, said Bowman, modem tools including the ehain saw are being used. However, a second, smaller eanoe will be built on the Big Island, using materials found only in the forests of Hawai'i, and with traditional stone adzes to test and document the traditional process. This eanoe will be suitable for sailing the coastal waters.

Recent visitors included the Maori Queen, Te Ariki Nui Teata I Rangi Kahu and her husband Whatu Moana Paki (at left), accompained by Nainoa Thompson (back to camera), Maori eanoe builder Wi Kingi and Wright Bowman (behind Kingi).

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