LAHAINA >> In a beach park near the former residence of a Hawaiian king, a Pacific renaissance is occurring in canoe building, attracting van loads of visitors, schoolchildren and elderly Hawaiians. Master canoe builders
shape cultureBy Gary T. Kubota
Star-Bulletin"It's become a magnet for people who want to know what canoes are like," said Mahina Martin, executive director of Hui O Waa Kaulua.
In a tin-roofed garage at Kamehameha Iki Park, the hui has renewed efforts to build the largest voyaging canoe in Hawaii -- 63 feet long, a couple of feet longer than the Hokulea, which traveled to Rapa Nui in 1999. The Mookiha is scheduled to be completed in a year.
The hui plans to use the double-hulled Mookiha as an educational vessel carrying youths between islands and eventually south to Tahiti.
Nearby, under a banyan tree in the park, master canoe builders from New Zealand, Tonga, Tahiti, the Cook Islands and Hawaii are demonstrating the art of canoe construction. The demonstration is part of the town's fourth annual "In Celebration of Canoes" and combines old and new methods.
Martin said the hui hopes eventually to house canoes in traditional Hawaiian structures at the park and to establish a place where the public can learn about the ocean-faring aspect of Hawaiian culture.
The canoe education center would serve as a complement to the history of the nearby land, where King Kamehameha I once lived with his family on Mokuhinia islet.
Hawaiians and a number of Pacific islanders say they've found canoe building and sailing to be a dynamic aspect of the rebirth of their cultures.
New Zealander Robert Busby, 32, said while Western influences have drawn Maori youths away from their native culture, canoe sailing appeals to them.
"You get your guy sailing with us and it kind of changes things," he said. "It makes them want to come back."
Canoe building and sailing also have enabled Pacific islanders to relearn lost aspects of their culture and allow their cultural practices to change and grow.
Busby's 68-year-old father, Hekenukumai, said he knew that about 800 to 900 years ago, one of his Maori ancestors had sailed between New Zealand and Hawaii.
Hekenukumai said the Maoris had lost a part of their knowledge that enabled them to navigate in open ocean to Hawaii, until they met Nainoa Thompson, navigator of the Hokulea, and Mau Piailug, the Yapese navigator who taught Thompson.
With their help, the Maoris built and sailed a double-hull canoe between New Zealand and Hawaii.
In December, the Tongans completed building a 115-foot voyaging canoe.
"We have a plan to go all over the Pacific," said Steven Feao Fehoko, a master canoe builder from Tonga.
Michael Tavioni, a master builder from Tahiti, said knowledge about sailing and canoe building is improving as different cultures share information and innovations.
Wielding a chain saw, Tavioni cuts into a log to shape the contours of a canoe.
What would take them months with a stone adze now takes them a couple of weeks.
"If our ancestors had chain saws two centuries ago, they would have used them," Tavioni said. "A living culture changes."