By Rod Thompson, Star-Bulletin
People on a small motorized vessel prepare to tow the Hokule'a
outside the Hilo Bay breakwater, in the background, so it
can catch wind for its sail to Nuku Hiva.

Hokule‘a leaves
on first leg of
its historic journey
to Rapa Nui

Sailing to Nuku Hiva should
be a breeze, but crew members'
families do not take it lightly

By Rod Thompson
Big Island correspondent
Star-Bulletin

HILO -- Dwarfed by adults standing around him, 4-year-old Keoni Wong sat on the dock at Hilo Harbor watching the voyaging canoe Hokule'a slowly drift out toward the center of little Radio Bay.

"Bye, Daddy," he waved to crew member Wallace Wong.

Then he burst into tears.

At 4:02 p.m. a conch was blown and a motor vessel towed the Hokule'a past the Hilo Bay breakwater where it could catch winds to carry it to Nuku Hiva -- the first leg of a three-stage journey to remote Rapa Nui, or Easter Island.

The final leg to Rapa Nui will be the most difficult voyage the Hokule'a has ever undertaken.

But as 4-year-old boys understand, the separation of crew members from their families during the relatively easier first leg is nothing to take lightly.

The final leg involves difficult sailing, eastward into the wind. The leg to Nuku Hiva involves sailing southeast, "close to the wind," said captain Bruce Blankenfeld.

Blankenfeld has sailed the Hokule'a nine times before, to and from Tahiti, never the more difficult route cutting into the wind to Nuku Hiva.

Randy Botti, part of the Hokule'a education team, said a marine engineer looked at the canoe's hulls and said he wouldn't sail the Hokule'a more than five miles from land.

The hulls are fiberglass and have developed fine cracks since the ship was built a quarter-century ago.

---

'You have the sailors,
and then you have the others
who carry the message. If you
care for the islands,
we want you.'
Randy Botti
HOKULE'A EDUCATION TEAM

Those cracks take on water and add weight to the canoe, Botti said.

Since the engineering exam, the canoe was taken down to "bare bones," the hulls rebuilt, and the entire canoe lightened by 25 percent, he said.

Keeping the crews' spirits light with the right food was the job of Blankenfeld's wife, Lita, and her lifelong friend Mary Fern.

They created a menu that goes in 10-day cycles. It includes their discoveries that many crew members prefer brown rice to white rice and that "soy beef" can be substituted for real beef in chili.

The crew will also take spiritual food. They will all learn a chant given to them by cultural expert John Keola Lake, about kinfolk seeking kinfolk, said Jimmy Naniole, who was in charge of feeding and housing the crew on the Big Island.

Botti, like little Keoni Wong, remembers there is risk in the voyage.

"To have these individuals putting their lives on the line, leaving family, leaving jobs, there has to be a big reason," he said.

The Hokule'a teaches sustainability in health, the environment and knowledge, he said.

"You have the sailors, and then you have the others who carry the message," he said. "If you care for the islands, we want you."

Hokule'a Specials:

Monday, June 14, 1999
Voyage to Rapa Nui

Monday, June 7, 1999
Sail of the Century