Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 28, Number 6, 1 June 2011 — Benefit supports Hawaiʻiloa restoration [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Benefit supports Hawaiʻiloa restoration

By Lynn Cook On June 26 the Great Lawn of the Bishop Museum will heeome a sea of celebration for the art of wayfinding. The Friends of Hōkūle'a and Hawai'iloa are presenting a fundraising event to restore and relaunch the 57-foot voyaging eanoe Hawai'iloa. Like the very best island backyard party, there will be plenty of food and music, and of course, hula.

This will not be the usual hula performance event. According to Kumu Hula Māpuana de Silva, this will be a "first ever," as she and her dancers from Hālau Mōhala 'Ilima, will be joined by Maelia Loebenstein Carter and Ka Pā Hula o Kauanoe o Wa'ahila, Miehael Pili Pang and Hālau Hula Ka No'eau, and Vicky Holt īakamine and Pua Ali'i 'Ilima. The four kumu hula and their hālau will present hula kahiko and hula 'auana individually, in small groups

and en masse. In 1993 the Hawai'iloa, the only double-hulled voyaging eanoe built entirely from traditional materials - Sitka spruce logs from the Paeihe Northwest and koa, 'ōhi'a and other eanoe woods - was launched and voyaged 6,000 miles to Tahiti, French Polynesia and the Marquesas. The Hawai'iloa has a task even beyond its stellar voyaging history. It will serve as the touchstone for Hawai'i as Hōkūle'a cruises toward its 2013 voyage around the world. Billy Richards, President of Friends

of Hōkūle'a and Hawai'iloa, describes the June 26 event as a rare opportunity to meet the navigators from great voyaging canoes, hear the story of the race to restoration of the Hawai'iloa and contribute to raise the more than $250,000 needed to complete the task. A special lecture and interactive Paeihe navigation activity will be presented by Chad Baybayan, Navigator-in-Residence at 'Imiloa Astronomy Center in Hilo. Special

invited guests include navigators and crew that Baybayan will weleome from every Paeihe destination as they gather in Hilo for the World Oeean Day conference. Some of the canoes will sail on to Kualoa Bay on O'ahu and will be honored guests at the June 26 event. The canoes represent Tahiti, Fa'afaute; Samoa, Gaualofa; Pan-Pacific, Haunui and Hine Moana; Cook Islands, Marumaru Atua; Aotearoa, Te Matau a Maui; and Fiji, Uto Ni Yalo. The FHH team will offer a hands-on opportunity to try eanoe lashing, a massive task that makes a eanoe "oeean strong." Among other needs, funds are being raised for the 5 miles of lashing needed for just one eanoe. Woodworker Jerry Ongies and Jay Dowsett are charged with restoration of Hawai'iloa. Dowsett's voice cracks when he says, "The

eanoe was built from spruce, koa, 'ōhi'a and other eanoe woods and logged thousands of miles of open oeean sailing." On exhibit, he says, "Like a fish out of water, it sat and dried out." It had to eome apart to go back together. Unfortunately, no one made a master list, so the team is putting the pieces together, "a bit like a jigsaw puzzle in the round," says Richards. Restoration is costly. Thousands of volunteer hours must be invested. Richards says that in addition to the special event, donations ean be made in any amount. "A family ean give $25 for a board foot of koa. A steering blade could cost $3,000; sails even more." The web site is fhh-hawaii.org. Soon Hawai'iloa will rejoin Makali'i and Hōkūle'a. The three voyaging giants, restored and revitalized, will sail against the wind,

rising up to meet the dreams of people who may never voyage across an oeean but believe - because of these brave navigators in the great canoes - that they ean. ■ Lynn Cook i.s a loeal freelance journalist sharing the arts and culture ofHawai'i with a glohal auāienee.

REST0RE HAWAI'ILOA FUNDRAISER

June 26, 4:30 to 7 p.m. Bishop Museum, Great Lawn General admission, $20 A Celestial Navigation event with Chad Baybayan begins at 3:30 p.m. Cost to attend the navigation event and fundraiser is $35. Low back lawn chairs only. No coolers or outside beverages. Cost of admission is fully deductible. fhh-hawaii.org or bishopmu seum.org

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Billy Richards, right, Jerry Ongies and Jay Dowseft gather at the Sand lsland work space for the partially restored voyaging eanoe Hawai'iloa. - Photo: Courtesy of 0livier Koning