Ho'olokahi: Charting a Course for Life
Photos by Ken Ige, Star-Bulletin

Waianae students set sail on the first leg of their trip.

By Greg Ambrose
Star-Bulletin

For two years, Waianae High instructors have taken students outside the school's walls and into their own aquaculture farm and aboard a twin-hulled Polynesian voyaging canoe to show practical applications for what they learn in the classroom.

Kimo Mersberg, Richard Galindo and Chablis Gaspar
pull up the sail as they head out of Coconut Island.

Two weeks ago, the teens took their final exam in a classroom without walls. For seven days, 26 students of the Waianae High Marine Science Learning Center sailed the 45-foot voyaging canoe E'ala around Oahu. Along the way they stopped at special places to trade cultural and environmental lessons with area residents.

"I learn better when I'm actually doing it than reading it out of a book," said senior Akoni Sandoval, 17, captain of one of two canoe teams.

"Instead of being stuck in a classroom, bored, we go out. And we work in the class, too. It's a mixture of the environment and book work. You can relate to life with these skills. If I memorize something, a couple months down the line I forget it because I don't use it.

Danielle Akuna strums the ukulele, entertaining the crew.

"With this you are seeing, hearing, feeling, using all your senses. You remember it."

Under the expert guidance of navigator Nainoa Thompson and Dennis Kawaharada of the Polynesian Voyaging Society, two teams of 13 students each took turns sailing the E'ala around Oahu in some blustery conditions.

From Pokai Bay in Waianae, they sailed to Maunalua Bay, Moku o Lo'e (Coconut Island), Kualoa, Kahana Bay and Haleiwa Boat Harbor, then around Kaena Point back to Pokai Bay, supervisor Susan Lum said.

Parents and teachers followed in land vehicles and joined residents of each landing site to greet the arriving sailors. The marine biologists at Coconut Island showed the students ponds filled with sharks and fish and talked to them about their research on coral reproduction, aquaculture and migrations of ahi, tiger shark and game fish.

Joe Soares rinses off a yellowfin tuna that was caught
on a hand line near Kaena Point.

When the seagoing students pulled into Kahana Bay, community members and Kahuku High School students greeted them with chants, drumming and a luau. "I will always remember how much everybody pulled together for us on such short notice," said Waianae senior Jadeen Amina, 17.

"From one experience, we'll be friends for a lifetime."

The visitors camped overnight in each area, then spent time cleaning the beaches before resuming their odyssey. "Before, I used to throw away a lot of stuff," Amina said. "But the cleanups taught me how to keep the land clean."

The voyage integrates lessons in oceanography, meteorology, astronomy, geography and the cultural heritage of other regions of the island, and teaches students self-reliance while sailing the canoe.

"Working together with my classmates was the best part," Amina said. "We are closer than we used to be, we learned a lot about each other."

Shortly after rounding Kaena Point and clearing rough water,
Matt Denison, Rufus Kimura, Mahoe Haia, Danielle Akuna and
Dwight Daligdig take control of the boat.

Students take a swim off Makaha Beach

Derek Sugioka cruises in one of
the nets at the bow of the E'ala.

"It's a dream come true, learning how to work as a team and a crew, seeing how much we can work with each other and accomplish."

All the students want the program to be expanded to all high schools in the state. "I didn't only learn about the boat, I learned about myself," said Amina.

Denison (hands up), Isaiah Laikupu,
their classmates and friends
celebrate the return to Pokai Bay.

"I learned things I didn't know before, such as how much I would enjoy sailing, and how we would get to know each other when we were camping.

"The students have to experience it themselves."