Update | February 27, 2015

Written by Moani Hemuli

Today, today, today, what a beautiful wonderful day!!!

Our body clocks are set, and we are in a rhythm. Like a good song that is slow to start, and then hits you all at once and you find yourself jamming. A song so addicting you’ve got it on repeat and memorized all the words. Well that’s how our days are.

Slowly, one by one we wake up and get ready and drive down to the landing at Okahu Bay. Then all at once, we start jamming on Hōkūleʻa.

Uncle Bruce and Naiʻa letting the dust fly as they sand the forward spreaders. Jason and Nakua tackling all the sanding in the aft section on Hōkūleʻa. Uncle Kalau working between the hulls on the mast and spars sanding all he chafed areas to be sealed again with epoxy. As for myself, I was laying down all the primer on the pieces that have been sanded by the guys. Then Rua, a Maori man who we first met when the waʻa were in Opua, came down and put his mana into Hōkūleʻa by sanding the ʻiako caps.

Losing track of time, we look around, and there’s no one else working around us. We pack it up and stow our tools, and call it a day around 5:30pm. But we know that tomorrow is coming, and it’s going be another good one. We got one awesome rhythm going, and I don’t ever want to take this song off repeat because waʻa is a lifestyle.

Have a Great Day!!
Moani H.