Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 26, Number 9, 1 May 2009 — Changing course [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Changing course

Hokule'a journey imparts lessonsfor life's voyage By Heidi Kai Guth Special tu Ka Wai ūla All of us are on our own voyages - alone and together. Some of us are lucky enough to get training sails. On March 22, 2009, the night before 1 1 of us set sail from Pahnyra Atoll to bring Hōkiile'a home to O'ahu, our navigator, Bruce Blankenfeld, taught some of us how to plan a reference course on a chart, or map. He would keep this ideal course in his head for our 12 days at sea, and compare it to his mental map of the course that nature would allow us to take. Blankenfeld reminded us that in traditional navigation - using only such natural elements as the stars.

sun, swells, birds and wind - one does not look to nature's signs to determine where one actually is, but where one is in comparison to where one started and the reference course plotted at that starting point. Only by knowing from whenee you eome, and paying attention to the details of what is around you, ean

you know how last you are moving and your immediate heading toward your destination. Non-instrument navigation requires honesty in observation. The navigator may wish conditions were different and hope that they improve, but those thoughts cannot distract the navigator from the honesty of recognizing reality and responding to the real conditions. Our voyage home included a series of squalls, 20-foot breakers crashing onto us, constantly soaked foul-weather gear, and regular, encouraging calls of "Training sail!" from crewmembers. We echoed that cheering refrain as we changed and reefed sails - making them smaller so

gusting winds wouldn't overstrain the sails' canvas or the masts and spars holding the sails - mended canvas tarps over our bunks (whieh allow for a head-to-toe line of five crewmembers in eaeh hull) that were ripped by cresting waves, scrambled to untie still-damp laundry from the rigging before the next squall

hit, curved oiu bodies around our food so the wind wouldn't blow it off our forks or out of our bowls, and huddled around the two-burner propane stove that cooked fresh-caught fish, boiled saimin, and warmed our hands during dark, wet nights. We learned from eaeh other and Hōkūle'a how to analyze and respond to information from our environment. Nature challenged us to trim sails to make best use of the howhng, shifting or nonexistent wind; steer at a safe angle to oncoming waves while still moving toward our destination; and read the oeean swells when we could see neither stars at night nor sun during the day. We laughed as visits to the lua (no, there

is no toilet on board) turned into salty oeean showers, and we strove to fulfill Captain Russell Amimoto's conunand to "Find stars!" under night skies that were road maps of darker-than-black squall clouds. The elements spoke to us with a beautiful honesty, and we enjoyed the rarity of a freedom of exposure to them. Sunlight and stars were gifts of great joy. Clear skies literally expanded our horizons and allowed us to reassess our relationship to our reference course and our point of origin. We were privileged to be able to focus on and be humbled by our surroundings. We could not filter or alter the impact of our individual experiences and still help the eanoe carry our small community safely home. This training sail has forever altered my life's voyage: reality has a renewed, vibrant and intense beauty that I will gratefully strive to honor and protect. ■ Heidi Kai Guth is OHA's lead advocate for native rights. She served as a crewmember aboard Hōkille 'a

on its recent 1,100-mi.Ie jowney from PalmyraAtoII to Hawai.'i, marking her second long-di.stance voyage aboard the traditional Polynesi.an sailing eanoe. The Palmyrajourney i.s thefirst ofmany deep-sea voyages i.ntended to train the next generati.on ofcrewmembers and leadershi.p in preparati.on for Hōkūle 'a 's planned ci.rcumnavigati.on ofthe globe i.n 2012.

MA KAI - IN ĪHE 0CEAN KA WAI OLA | ĪHE LIVING WAĪER 0F OHA

By Heidi Kai Guth Kpeeial te Ka Wai Ola

A self-described "novice steerswoman," the author takes the sweep. Behind her is a canvas tarp and a zippered opening of one of the bunks, whieh allow for head-to-toe sleeping. - Photo: Courtesy ofMike īaylor