Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 22, Number 8, 1 ʻAukake 2005 — Canoe launch [ARTICLE]

Kōkua No ke kikokikona ma kēia Kolamu

Canoe launch

In a July ceremony, the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian launched into the Potomac River an 18-foot Hawaiian eanoe that was started 15

years ago by master eanoe builder Wright Bowman Jr. The event was hosted by the museum, members of the Hawaiian voyaging canoes Hōkūle'a and Hawai'iloa, and the Alexandria Seaport Foundation. The launeh was part of a larger project of native boat-building demonstrations held at the museum, whieh opened in September 2004. The July ceremony involved swamping the boat, called Au Hou, or New Era, using oeean water collected from the eight channels that separate eaeh Hawaiian island. The ceremony accepted the eanoe as a living entity and allowed the eanoe to never want to "drink of the sea" again, or sink.