Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 28, Number 1, 1 Ianuali 2011 — CANOE RACE HONORS WATER SPORTS LEGENDS [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

CANOE RACE HONORS WATER SPORTS LEGENDS

By Melissa Moniz The Waiklkl Community Center's annual Ala Wai Challenge celebrates its 26th year with a new loeahon and a new name. On Sunday, Jan. 23, the outriggercanoerace will take to the oeean for the first time at the Duke Kahanamoku Beach in Waikīkī. Thus influencing the event's new name - the Duke Kahanamoku Challenge, whieh pays tribute to the location's namesake and one of Hawai'i's most renowned water sport legends. The event has evolved as a community-service eanoe race into a fundraising event that also includes a makahiki, live entertainment, food, crafts and a paddleboard

relay race. "This has been an ongoing eommunity event and the reason for it is we want to carry on with Hawaiian water sports and culture," says Jeff Apaka, Community Relations Director of Waikīkī Community Center and event coordinator. Construction prevented the race from being held at the Ala Wai this year, saidAnaka. addinu that Hilton was

"more than happy to help out the Waikīkī Community Center" when it needed a new venue. "After all it's in the same district." Sponsored by the Hihon Hawaiian Village, this year's challenge kicks off at 9 a.m. with an official weleome at Hilton Hawaiian Village's Great Lawn, followed by a double-hulled eanoe procession, an oli and kahiko by Hālau Hula O Hōkūlani and Kumu Hula Hōkūlani and Larry De Rego. Eaeh year the challenge honors two water sports legends of Hawai'i. The 2011 honorees are the Pi'ianai'a family and the late Mau Piailug. The Pi'ianai'a family are living legends of oeean mariners. Abraham, the late patriarch, introduced his two sons Gordon and Norman to life at sea, and both would go on to earn nautical science degrees. In the span of three decades, all three have sailed on Hōkūle'a, including grandsons. (One trip to the Cook Islands carried three generations of Pi'ianai'as.) According to a family bio, "Abraham was always the senior eultural representative on the eanoe but was a respected sailor, too. Gordon, who was tasked to bring Hōkūle'a back to Hawai'i from Tahiti in 1976, has served as one of a handful of Hōkūle'a captains for 20 years. Norman, who recently retired as Master of the S.S. Matsonia, has been with Hōkūle'a since 1977 and will be advising and crewing on Hōkūle'a's around the world venture." The late Mau Piailug was a traditional master navigator who used the non-instrument method of sea voyaging. Piailug, who passed away in July, is credited with having the foresight to pass on what he knew to be a dying art to students from Hawai'i, New Zealand, Rapa Nui, Cook Islands, Japan, Tahiti and Micronesia. In 1976, he navigated Hōkūle'a on its historic voyage from Hawai'i to Tahiti, sparking a eultural renaissance for Hawaiian navigators. "Speaking

on Mau Piailug's behalf will be one of his students, Nainoa Thompson," adds Apaka. At the event, the open oeean quarter-mile eanoe race (open to all skill levels) starts at 10 a.m. The race is a double-elimination format with winner and consolation brackets. Ongoing entertainment from two stages on the heaeh and Great Lawn will start at 9 a.m. with the Royal Hawaiian Band. There is no charge for spectators enjoying the entertainment and races. The organizers will onee again offer the ever-popular eanoe taxi service in specially-marked double-hulled canoes. Free eanoe taxi service piek up will be located at both sides of Duke Kahanamoku Lagoon from 10 a.m.

to 1 p.m. Food and handmade Hawaiian crafts will be available for purchase at the Great Lawn. At 1 p.m. is the Invitational Stand Up Paddle Relay at the mauka side of the Duke Kahanamoku Lagoon. The makahiki games begin at 2 p.m. and will feature the 'ulu maika (sand bowling), niu relav (short coconut run).

moa pahe'e (sliding), kūkini (messenger run) and huki kaula (tug-of-war). The makahiki games are coordinated by the Kamehameha Schools boarding department. The puhlie is invited to eome and play for a small donation that helps the Waikīkī Community Center. Teams and sponsorships are still available. The fee to sponsor a 12-person team (six to eanoe, six for makahiki games) is $600, including luneh, all entrance fees and an event T-shirt for eaeh team member. All canoes are provided courtesy of 'Ānuenue Canoe Club. Free parking will be available at the Hawai'i Convention Center. Shuttle service will leave the center's ground level for Hilton Hawaiian Village from 7 to 8:30 a.m. and will return from the hotel between 1:30 and 4:30p.m. Since 1978, the Waikīkī Community Center has served the needs of Waikīkī's children, seniors and families by providing a variety of services, including an Early Childhood Education Center, referral and case-management services for older adults and a food pantry for the homeless. Together, with its on-site partner agencies, the center serves approximately 15,000 people eaeh year. "The monies raised allows us to provide the diverse needs for the programs and services that we offer," says Apaka. "We have so many programs here being that we are a multicultural center and the only of its kind in Waikīkī. One of the main things we do is provide a preschool for our children to grow up and be educated." ■ Meīissa Moniz is a Contributing Writerfor Ka Wai Ola A former Associate Edi.tor at MidWeek, she has chosen a new career path as afull-time mom to spend more quali.ty ti.me with her husband and two young daughters.

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ūuke Kahanamoku Challenge Duke Kahanamoku Beach anel Lagoon, Waikiki Starts at 9 a.m. Sunday, Jan. 23 2 p.m. award ceremony 923-1802 www. wa i ki kieom m unitycenter.org

The legacy of famed waterman Duke Kahanamoku, on right, lives on. This year's Duke Kahanamoku Challenge honors the Pi'ianai'a 'ohana and the late Mau Piailug, at top, who taught non-instrument navigation to a new generation of seafarers. The late Abraham Pi'ianai'a, bottom, is the patriarch of the Pi'ianai'a family, whieh continues its longstanding ties to Hawai'i voyaging canoes. - Kahanamoku photo: Courtesy ofBishop Musuem. Piailug photo: KW0 archives. Pi'ianai'a photo: Courtesy ofGordon Pi'ianai'a