Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 24, Number 3, 1 March 2007 — "Kū Holo Mau" voyage [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

"Kū Holo Mau" voyage

On Feb. 18, after 26 days at sea, the voyaging canoes Hōkūle'a and Alingano Maisu made port at Majuro in the Marshall Islands. It marked Maisu' s first open-oeean landfall and Hōkūle'a's first landfall west of the International Dateline. Three days later, the canoes departed for Pohnpei, their first stop in the Federated States of Micronesia. (A planned stop at Kosrae was cancelled due to bad weather in the area.) "It's just such an honor to be part of such a historical event, with the Hawaiian and Micronesian people," Maisu crew member Keaka Mo'ikeha Yasutake told Honolulu Star-BuIIetin reporter Gary Kubota in Majuro. "It's beautiful." After making repairs to one of the canoes' steering paddles at Kealakekua Bay, the canoes departed from Hawai'i on lan. 23. Although they ran into strong headwinds and were forced to tack for several days, the canoes made their target of sighting Iohnston Island about 800 miles southwest of Hawai'i on Feb. 5. The role of lead navigator then switched from Bruce Blankenfeld aboard Hōkūle'a to Chadd Paishon aboard Maisu, who led the canoes the more than 1,200 miles to Majuro, despite eneountering a gale-force storm as they neared the atoll. The canoes will now make their way through

the Micronesian islands to batawal, where Maisu will be presented as a gitt to grandmaster navigator Mau Piailug, who brought the lost art ot traditional navigation back to Hawai'i. Onee Maisu is installed in its permanent home at Yap, where it will be used to teach Micronesian youth about traditional navigation, Hōkūle'a will sail on alone to lapan in the second portion of the journey, dubbed "Kū Holo Lā Komohana - Sail On to the Western Sun." E Listen for live updates from the canoes ' crews via satellite phone on OHA 's "Nā 'Ōiwi Olino " radio show on AM 940 from 7 to 9 a.m. every weekday morning. To follow an online blog ofthe voyage, visit pvshawaii.squarespace.com.

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Alingano Alo/5tyapproūches Majuro Atoll. Photo: Ka'iulani Murphy