Hokule‘a crew’s
call thrills school
Chatting via satellite,
youngsters in a voyaging class
share the talesCanoe cruises across 'center of heavens'
By Susan Kreifels
Star-BulletinThe young students stood one-by-one describing their lokomaika'i for the day -- their good deeds, their sharing, like helping parents clean house or a friend get to class.
Later, via a satellite phone call, they listened to the crew of the Hokule'a tell their lokomaika'i -- how they shared all the jobs on board like washing dishes, cooking and standing watch.
Besides retracing the migration routes of the ancient Polynesian voyagers, the Hokule'a has other important missions -- teaching cultural values and love of the land and its resources. The Moanalua Gardens Foundation has prepared a curriculum for this school year that will follow the Hokule'a voyage to Rapa Nui and teach those values. Organizers hope to reach 100,000 public and private students around the state.
The Hokule'a started filling those missions in a Kamehameha Schools summer class this week.
Excited fifth- and sixth-graders in the voyaging class gathered around a speaker phone to ask questions about day-to-day challenges on board: going to the bathroom, running out of food, not getting bored, and the difficulties of squeezing enough clothes for a 30-day voyage into a 48-quart cooler.
Most students said being aboard the Hokule'a would be fun and a chance to travel. Ihilani Haru, 10, was more thoughtful; she would no doubt have made her Polynesian ancestors proud.
"It would be a good experience without all the new technical products because you can't rely on those things," Ihilani said. "You have to learn to be independent and rely on yourself."
THOSE are the types of values included in the Hokule'a curriculum, which was funded and developed by the Moanalua Gardens Foundation, said Executive Director Marilyn Schoenke.
The nonprofit foundation strives to teach the community about the culture, natural history and environment of Hawaii.
"The Hokule'a is like the islands," Schoenke said. "You must take care of all your supplies and everything you have on the canoe. If you don't, you won't survive.
"If the community is aware of how precious and how fragile our culture and environment are, hopefully they will take better care of them."
The foundation also is sponsoring workshops with the help of the Department of Education for teachers around the state who will receive curriculum packets to reproduce for students. Fourth- through sixth-grade classes are the focus.
The classes will also follow the voyage through the Internet Web sites. And Hawaii Public Television will broadcast several programs.
Maura O'Connor supervised the curriculum project, called "Let's Go Voyaging." The program includes lessons on ancient Polynesian migration through the Pacific Ocean; how traditional voyagers used nature to navigate, and how people can use nature as a guide in their own lives; how the ancient Hawaiians managed natural resources and how those techniques can be applied today; and learning lessons from the tragic history of Rapa Nui, which suffered destruction of its environment and overpopulation.
Students from selected classes will talk to the crews via satellite telephone calls and the rest of the classes will watch on live video. Along the way crews will interview students in the Marquesas Islands and Rapa Nui on video.
THE last leg of the voyage to Rapa Nui is the most difficult, and navigators say they could miss the small island. After a month, if the Hokule'a is off course, students will help guide them to their destination, O'Connor said.
Broadcasts of the voyage are scheduled for Sept. 21, Sept. 28, and Oct. 5 at 9 a.m. on KHET Hawaii Public Television.
Pacific Information Exchange Inc. donated the telecommunications for the voyage as part of its commitment to community outreach through the Internet, said Dion Coschigano, the vice president for corporate affairs.
"The voyage holds such essential hope for so many people," Coschigano said.
"It gives children new horizons."
Canoe cruises across
Star-Bulletin
‘center of heavens’The Hokule'a crossed ka piko o wakea yesterday -- the center of the heavens -- and celebrated along its historic sail to Rapa Nui.
About 7 a.m. Hawaii time, the traditional voyaging canoe passed over the equator, the first time for five crew members. And like countless other sailors before them, they performed skits and sang during the crossing, said Bruce Blankenfeld, captain and navigator, during a satellite telephone interview with the Star-Bulletin.
But the crew of 13 also reflected on what the equator area meant to their ancient Polynesian ancestors, some of history's greatest ocean navigators -- taking time for what Blankenfeld called "discovering the cultural aspects" of the Earth's girth.
Blankenfeld estimated the canoe was located 141-142 degrees west longitude along the equator.
"We're pretty much right on target," he said.
The Hokule'a left Hilo on June 15 on the first leg of the Rapa Nui voyage -- 2,185 miles to Nukuhiva in the Marquesas Islands. It's expected to reach the Marquesas in mid-July, but Blankenfeld hesitated to predict a date. "In due time" was his closest estimate.
The Hokule'a carries no navigational equipment. The crew relies only on the stars, waves and other signs of nature to chart their course, just like the Polynesians who settled the islands of the Pacific Ocean thousands of years ago. The crew even stores their watches below deck, using only the skies to tell time.
But the canoe does carry communications for safety reasons as well as educating students about life on board.
The Hokule'a is making its last sail of the century after retracing the migration routes of the ancient Polynesians for the last 25 years. The sail to Rapa Nui, also known as Easter Island, off the coast of Chile, is the only route left.
The second leg of the journey will take the Hokule'a 966 miles to Mangareva, expected to take all the month of August.
The third leg will be the most difficult of all Hokule'a voyages. Against prevailing winds, it will travel 1,450 miles from Mangareva to Rapa Nui, the most isolated inhabited island in the world.
Navigators expect to reach Rapa Nui in October, but they know that there's a chance they could miss the 50-square-mile island.
Blankenfeld said the voyage has suffered no mishaps and has been filled with "good spirit." Wednesday the crew sighted whales.
But the Hokule'a has seen plenty of squalls. Wednesday night finally cleared, with a sky full of constellations -- the celestial navigator's most important companions of nature.
"It was so peaceful," Blankenfeld said.
