Eō Nāmāhoe!

Posted on 12 Sep 2016
In Education, Newsletter, Photo Galleries, Teachers, Updates

Nāmāhoe, Kauaʻi’s first traditional voyaging canoe, made her inaugural launch into the waters of Nawiliwili Bay at high noon on Saturday, September 10, 2016. The historic birth of the canoe is the culmination of more than 20 years of work by Kauai’s voyaging group Nā Kālai Waʻa o Kauaʻi under the leadership of John Kruse, Dennis Chun and the late Dr. Patrick Aiu. The Kauaʻi community joined by voyagers and supporters from though out Hawaiʻi and the Pacific celebrated Nāmāhoe’s launch with festivities held today at the Kauai Marriott Resort and Beach Club.

With the birth of Nāmāhoe, which means Gemini, the guiding constellation from Oʻahu to Kauaʻi, there are now eight traditional voyaging canoes in Hawaii. According to Kruse, Nāmāhoe may be the first voyaging canoe launched from Kauaʻi in close to 600 years. At 72-feet long, the canoe is also the largest in the Hawaiian islands.

“Nāmāhoe already holds so much mana from the many hands in the community that helped to build her over the last 20 years,” said Chun. “The community on Kauaʻi needs to have its own voyaging canoe to help perpetuate the culture and values of our ancestors and to provide educational opportunities for our young people.”

“I commend John, Dennis and the late Dr. Aiu for their vision and years of extraordinary dedication to building a voyaging canoe for Kauaʻi and its people,” said Nainoa Thompson, president, Polynesian Voyaging Society. “To see there are now eight voyaging canoes in Hawaiian waters since Hōkūleʻa was born 41 years ago shows that the people of Hawaiʻi share a desire to protect our past and our most cherished values,” he said.

All former crewmembers of Hōkūleʻa, Kruse, Chun and Aiu were first inspired to build a canoe for Kauaʻi back in 1995, after the construction of Makaliʻi on Hawaii Island.