Wai‘anae, O‘ahu —

By Kamaile Academy Future Navigators. In late September, high school students from Kamaile Academy PCS in Wai‘anae took part in the welcoming of Hōkūle‘a and Hikianalia to their coast. After years of involvement with the Polynesian Voyaging Society, this week allowed the students to continue their personal crew training, share their experiences with their community, and pass on their knowledge to the next generations of voyagers. The reflections below provide some insight into what the events meant to the students and their community in their own words.

Being able to sail from Nānākuli to Wai‘anae was a great opportunity for me. I was able to bring and introduce Hōkūle‘a to my home. I am from Wai‘anae, and I am proud of where I am from. It was an honor to be able to sail with other crew members into Pōkaʻi Bay. Opportunities such as this always leave me with great learning, whether it be a new knot to tie, new people, or new life lessons.

Although the journey from Nānākuli to Wai‘anae was short, it was a leg of a much longer journey of sailing around the world. I was enriched with joy and happiness when I saw my community come out to experience what Hōkūle‘a and the Polynesian Voyaging Society are all about — to learn the mission of PVS, to Mālama Honua, and to reconnect back to our past, because without the past how are we able to progress in the future? Hōkūle‘a is capable of filling a hole in every Hawaiian’s life. For them, she can be the way to reconnect back with their past and to mālama honua to care for themselves, their land, and others. The past generation has taught us these values, and it is my generation’s duty to teach the next generations those values. A simple sail from Nānākuli to Wai‘anae is capable of making a huge difference in someone’s life, and in the end, every moment was a gift.

Back in 2009, I sailed for the first time on both Hōkūle‘a (for training) and E Ala. It was an amazing and breathtaking experience, and I instantly fell in love with PVS. In honor of that experience, I wrote a poem entitled “E Pua ana ‘O Kamaile.” Within the poem reads the words,

“E Pua ana ‘O Kamaile,
Ku la‘i ho‘okele Na Alaka‘i,
ka na‘au loko maika‘i,
E lupua ana ia Hawai‘i.”

E pua ana ‘O Kamaile translates to “Blossoming is Kamaile.” We are continuously learning all that PVS has to offer, we are blossoming to crew members, and we are growing more and more educated. Ku la‘i ho‘okele Na Alaka‘i (leaders in voyaging), we are on our way to becoming leaders in voyaging.
On September 23, 2013, our Kamaile ‘Ohana had the opportunity to become those leaders. We had keiki from Kamaile Academy come down to Pōkaʻi Bay to tour Hōkūle‘a. Within this time, we high school students set up and ran multiple stations. Throughout the morning, we led more than 200 younger students through activities including making peace flags for the voyage, physical training, knot tying, basic navigation, and tours of Hōkūle‘a. For the younger students from grades 3 and 6, we became the voyaging leaders, guiding them, answering their questions, and becoming the teachers.

Reflecting upon my growth from my sail back in seventh grade to now, my knowledge of Hōkūle‘a and PVS has grown dramatically. To see that we could apply this knowledge and teach the next generation brought tears to our eyes. I think it is a magical thing when we can apply what my family in PVS has taught me and then pass that knowledge to next generation. Ka na‘au loko maika‘i, E lupua ana ia Hawai‘i — with a gracious heart, benefiting all of Hawaii. In PVS, we learn to give aloha, and to mālama everyone. We certainly did that as we allowed our Kamaile ‘Ohana to come down to Pōkaʻi Bay and teach that what we know without a grumble. As we partook in this wonderful event, we served the people of Hawai‘i one student at a time. We gave back to our community by sharing our knowledge, and we will continue to do this for as long as we live. Everything we learn from our elders, we will pass down to the keiki, and keep that going. When this poem was written it was a foreshadowing to what the haumana from Kamaile will be doing, and we are certainly living up to the standards set.

Eo Kamaile, Eo Hōkūle‘a, TSUA!

Boca Raton, Florida —

By Elizabeth Eubanks, Pope John Paul II High School. I am a science teacher from South Florida. This summer I attended an EARTH (Education and Research: Testing Hypothesis) workshop in Honolulu, HI, hosted by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI), C-MORE (Center for Microbial Oceanography: Research and Education) and C-DEBI (Center for Dark Energy Biosphere Investigation). During the workshop, I had the pleasure of learning from Jenna Ishii who is a wonderful educator associated with the Polynesian Voyaging Society.

She taught us about Hōkūle‘a and also demonstrated how to create a Polynesian Star Compass. I was instantly enamored by her grounded style and incredible knowledge.

I acquired some video of her demonstration and had the pleasure of interviewing her.

This fall I put a video together and shared it with my Marine Science classes and with my 8^th grade integrated science class. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1i3eH7-iXAU

After watching the video, we made a Polynesian Star Compass with my 8^th graders. We used “sea beans or drift seeds” that I found from our beaches here in Florida. Drift seeds travel the current and often come to our beaches from places like South America. They are a personal connection in our lives that connect us to those faraway places.

http://youtu.be/EEz1Ry_IotM  created for this blog

It was a great lesson and here are a few things my students had to say about it:

The star compass is an age old method to navigate using the moon and the stars. Jenna taught me that the stars never cross the equator. When we made it in class, I learned that the stars are in line with each other. Nick L

The star compass is the traditional way of navigating. It is split up in 32 different sections called houses. The sun, moon and stars all rise and set in the same house. They [the stars] never cross the equator and they stay parallel to the equator. Only wind, birds, and canoes can cross the equator. They first set north, south, east and west. North is called Akau, south is called Hema, east is called Hikina, and west is called Komohana. The compass teaches kids and adults how to make a compass using your surroundings. It also helps if you are sailing.

I thought it was a cool way to make a compass out of your surroundings. That way you can’t get lost anywhere as long as you know where the sun rises and sets. My thoughts on making it was that it was fun and interesting to hear the different names and actually see how to create it. Katrina Y