Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 33, Number 6, 1 June 2016 — DIFFERENT CANOES -- SAME OCEAN [ARTICLE]

DIFFERENT CANOES -- SAME OCEAN

By Lynn Cook n the days of discovery and migration, the freeway was the oeean and the "commuters" were voyagers. Double-hulled canoes, powered by wind and wave, found their way across oceans while great, single-hulled canoes, powered by 13 paddlers explored the western coast

of the continent. Fast forward to our modern world. As Hōkūle'a and the 'Ohana Wa'a challenge the open oeean, Charlie Kanehailua and his team of Hawai'i paddlers have been invited to take on their own voyag-

ing challenge. They will travel to the Paeihe Northwest to paddle 200 miles in single-hull canoes, following a costal route from the First Nations of Lumi to Squamish. The Tribal Journeys tradition was reborn in 1989, a time when the indigenous peoples of the Paeihe Northwest felt that voyaging in their tradition was nearly extinct. Coinciding with the 100th anniversary of Washington's statehood, that event was called Paddle to Seattle. They paddled 100 canoes, eaeh carved from a single cedar log, to the celebration. The Northwest coastline is rough, the water very cold and the weather unpredictable. As Unele Charlie describes it, "This is not a race it is a journey of reconnection." They paddle from 30 to 60 miles a day, stopping eaeh night on tribal land, always observing protoeol. Eaeh morning their road crew breaks eamp, drives ahead, sets up eamp and waits while food is prepared. Protocol is observed in the same traditions as hālau and eanoe arrivals here or wherever the wa'a travels. Charlie Kanehailua didn't set out

to heeome a paddler. After returning from the Vietnam War, Kanehailua worked with Wounded Warriors. In the process, he says, "I found the oeean, found paddling and found healing." First he paddled, then raced, in two-man, six-man and solo races. He paddled the Moloka'i ehannel. In the late '90s he paddled and coached in

Waimānalo and Kailua. Going for a degree at University of Hawai'i, Kanehailua met Kaleo Wong in a Hawaiian language class. Wong, now a navigator and eaptain of Hōkūle'a, knew Unele Char-

lie from eanoe paddling. Both knew a man named Bob Baker from the First Nations in the Northwest. Baker, who had lived in Hawai'i for 10 years, knew the eanoe eulture. In 2009, he talked to the chief eouneil asking for support to bring the Hawaiian delegation to the event. With that commitment in plaee, Baker contacted the Polynesian Voyaging Society to see who would be interested in participating in the 200-mile eanoe event. The team included Kaleo Wong, Maya Saffery, Kahikina de Silva, Kalani Ko'anā'anā, Kaiulani Murphy, George Akau, Kaimi Hermosura and Kanehailua. Wong says, "Many of us wanted to but Charlie is the only one who went back." Kanehailua had an experience on that first journey unlike any of the others. He found family, the Nahinu 'ohana who traveled by ship in the 1800s, stayed, and married into the Squamish tribe. The families have made a strong connection. Unele Charlie says, "I might not have gone back if it hadn't been for that family. They take care of us." SEE TRIBALJ0URNEYS ON PAGE 24

j NĀHANANA w > EVENTS /

TRIBAL J0URNEYS July 30 - August 6, 2016 Updated information: www.paddletonisqually.com Learn more: Nisqually lndian Tribe People of the River, People of the Grass www.nisqually-nsn.gov

TRIBAL J0URNEYS Continued from page 19

Since 2009 Kanehailua has gathered crew and kōkua to travel to the Paeihe Northwest to participate in the 200-mile paddling adventure called Tribal Journeys. He continues to bring the songs, stories, chants and arts to share with the Northwest nations. His wife, Susan, is head of the "road crew." This year he takes a team of 10, including his grandchildren. Kanehailua, Manaia Wolfgramm, Kuikahi, Kanani and Kaiala Wond, Brent Ho, Keoni Exell, Shanon Marie, Ikaika Fruean and Kamuela Wemer will be paddling. Working with cultural treasure Unele Sol Opio, Kanehailua carves eanoe paddles, weaponry, weaves and lashes, and teaches Nānākuli youth as he carves.

Unele and his wife will be busy until the last moment making gifts: koa eanoe paddles, Niho Oki, shark tooth weapons, lei hulu, gifts to be presented to tribal elders at every stop in the Journey. They will share some of this work, along with stories of the Journey, as part of the I Mana ka Lahui events at the OHA building. The first was held May 14 and the second will take plaee June 1. Kanehailua says his dream is to raise the funds to take an all Hawaiian crew and kōkua helpers to paddle their own eanoe. For now they are grateful to be sponsored by the Squmaish Nation and grateful for the thriving eanoe communities that keep the Tribal Joumey alive. ■ Lynn Cook is a loeal freelanee journaU.st sharing the arts and culture of Hawai.'i. with a glohal audience.