Voyage to show that all is possible
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As a 1,670-mile transarchipelago voyage in a six-person outrigger canoe culminates this month, challenges persist - not the least of which is construction of bunks for 16 paddlers on the deck of the escort vessel.
"We've had to essentially build our accommodations on the Lady Alice because it's a fishing boat set up and designed to catch fish, not paddlers," said Jamie Woodburn of Kula, logistics guru of the Hawaiian Outrigger Canoe Voyaging Society, speaking by phone Wednesday from Oahu.
"Right now we're working to build bunks for 16 paddlers, and we're two-thirds of the way through with that over here . . . across from Pier 37 in Honolulu," he said, referring to the last-minute construction aboard the 100-foot, 160-ton Lady Alice.
The paddlers and support crew depart Monday from Hanalei Bay, Kauai, to undertake a 480-mile, four-day, nonstop paddle from Laysan to Kure Atoll in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands from July 12 to 15. The odyssey is the fourth and last leg in an epic five-year vision quest to link the Hawaiian archipelago physically, spiritually, culturally and educationally.
Crew members include nine project veterans: HOCVS directors Kimokeo Kapahulehua, Chris Luedi, George Rixey and Woodburn, all of Maui; and Matt Muirhead, Kendall Struxness and Pepe Trask of Kauai; plus Kathryn "Ryn" Hughes of Maui and Dave Lostalot of California. The seven first-timers are Anita Anderson, Colleen Kirkley and Peter Neiss of Maui; Theron Forrestor of Oahu; and Wayne Hess, Chris O'Kieffe and Dave Waynar of California.
Woodburn said the support crew includes two captains, a chef, four fishers and a Colorado-based film crew of two.
The project's founding visionary is a Kauai native with family roots on Niihau who aspires to leave a legacy to the next generation of extreme paddlers.
"Our last leg is the beginning of all the new legs of all the voyages we would like to do in the Pacific Ocean," said Kapahulehua, 60, spiritual head of the group, while speaking of planned outrigger marathons in Tonga, Tahiti, New Zealand, Fiji and Australia. Meanwhile, he ensured that this crew included proteges in their teens and 20s: Alex Ibarra of Baldwin High School, and Neiss of Hawaiian Canoe Club, respectively. A multisport athlete at Baldwin, Ibarra, 16, will serve as a deckhand and alternate paddler.
"We will be going from Laysan to Kure, approximately 500 miles; it's estimated to take us 92 hours," Kapahulehua said. "One of the responsibilities of kupuna is to show the opio (youth). We hope, with them and all of the opio in the past (voyages), they will carry on from the 1,670-mile voyage from the mokupuni (island) of Hawaii to the mokupuni of Kure," he said.
The 92-hour experience promises endless ocean stretching to the horizon on all sides; the metronomic sound of "hut" as the person in seat 2 or 3 calls for paddlers to change sides every 14 to 20 paddle strokes; the salty scent of the sea overlaid by diesel fumes from the escort boat; cooling splashes on sun-burnished bodies; and the taste of lots of pastas and peanut butter sandwiches stoking calorie-depleted bodies.
Kapahulehua's teammate at Kihei Canoe Club expressed trust in his leadership during the round-the-clock venture at sea.
"All-day, all-night paddling - it's exciting," said Anderson, 55, a nurse supervisor at Hale Makua in Kahului and one of three women in the cadre. "I feel real honored and blessed to have been asked to do that, to be with Kimokeo and the team. . . . It feels good to go; from the little ones (interisland voyages) I do and the (traditional Hawaiian) ceremonies, we feel connected with each other and nature. And also being disconnected from the 'real world' is great," she said with a laugh. "It's a nice expansion of your mind."
As a medical member of the crew, Anderson said, she has stockpiled medical supplies - antibiotics, sunburn ointment, gauze, ace bandages, splints, automated external defibrillator, and Tylenol, Motrin and other painkillers for muscle fatigue - for the 15-day voyage.
One of her charges said he is persevering, despite having lost 20 pounds from a recurrence of colon cancer.
" 'Epic' takes a certain personality," said Struxness, 47, HOCVS president and a contractor out of Hanalei, Kauai. The 6-foot-3-inch athlete is down to 160 pounds but is prevailing with the help of homeopathic treatments by a Honolulu physician.
"Most people give up; most people don't dream this big," Struxness said. "Jack Nicklaus has always regretted that he set goals too low."
Looking to the stars, Kirkley perceived an astrological/
ocean-related kinship among the trio of female paddlers.
"All three of us are Pisces," said the Kihei Canoe Club member, 39, who works as a server at an upscale resort eatery. "That's why I laughed when I put it all together."
Bunk beds and cancer notwithstanding, a major hurdle will be not seeing land for the duration of the four-day paddle, because the group was unable to get federal and state permits to enter the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Papahanaumokuakea National Marine Monument. Thus, the canoe and escort vessel cannot go within 50 miles of any of the monument's islets and atolls.
"This voyage is the biggest in everything - paddling time, money, logistics - and we essentially abandoned our permit process. We will be paddling outside of the monument," Woodburn noted of the $170,000 project.
"It is a futile effort until the permitting process is refined. It's a huge disappointment that they (government agencies) couldn't embrace the project and realize the benefit to a whole lot of people. . . . We're talking about promoting stewardship, creating an appreciation for Hawaiian culture, raising awareness about the monument, educating, promoting Hawaiian canoe voyaging.
"It would have been nice to have been able to do that within the barriers of monument, but we weren't going to let that stop what we set out to do six years ago," he said.
Although unfamiliar with the permitting process and not wanting to place blame, an official with the state Department of Land and Natural Resources thought it was a shame to be paddling through some 500 miles of ocean without the inspiring sight of land.
"It's unfortunate that as a result of not having this permit, this canoe could not travel through this newly created monument - because this effort does symbolize a connection to Hawaii and our culture," said Randy Awo, Maui branch chief for DLNR's Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement. "And what better way to do it but to use our outrigger canoes to begin this journey on the Big Island and end it in Papahanaumokuakea?
"This last leg of the journey really does symbolize the connection. . . . I think it's a very important way to connect, and I think it was very unfortunate to travel through this place . . . and have to stand off at a distance where they really cannot see the islands. I hope it works out, and I hope everybody completes this journey and returns," he said.
But Kapahulehua remained upbeat about the final leg of the transarchipelago odyssey and its significance for the global outrigger.
"Our canoe's name is Ke Alaka'i O Mau Kupuna - The Pathway of Our Ancestors -and I'm really excited all the voyagers onboard are ready to go, physically fit, and making sure our culture is preserved, perpetuated and educated about," he said.
"The voyage is not only for us but for everyone in the hui waa ohana, which is the canoe paddling society. We know we have more than 54 countries in Sacramento racing (next month) in the World Sprints. This is for all of that - not only for Hawaii nei, but for the world - and that the spirit of aloha and the mana (spiritual power) of all people in Hawaii carry this message of this voyage - that everything is possible to do." |
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