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Paddle Together, Paddle Forever                                                        North Hawaii News March 2015

9/21/2017

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It’s a dark Monday morning and the sun is hiding behind a shrouded Mauna Kea, but the Kawaihae canoe Club is alive with purposeful activity. The kupuna group knot together in small groups awaiting their “commodore”, George Fry to assign seats and canoes. There are a few first timers who will occupy seat five in canoes with more experienced paddlers, seat one calling the stroke, seat six steering. Everyone working together, the canoes are soon in the water bobbing outside the interior break wall.
   “Paddles up” calls the steersman and “huki”. The first few strokes wake up stiff muscles and if you’re fortunate, by the time the canoe rounds the outer break wall and heads south to Maumae, your heart is filled with joy. You are lost to the rhythm of the paddles and surrender to an ancient ocean world as the sun’s rays brighten behind Mauna Kea.
    Paddling has been an integral part of island life since the first arrivals centuries before. It embodies the spirit of Hawaiian culture and what it means to be an island dweller. According to Hawaiian historian, Herb Kane, "The Wa'a shaped the Hawaiian people physically, intellectually and spiritually as much as the Hawaiians shaped the logs that became their canoes." Canoes were built, distances traveled, fish harvested with many hands working together and this is at the heart of paddling. But there was also time for fun and that is where canoe racing or hei hei waa came in. ​
PictureCoach Manny Veincent
    Kohala District sports two clubs: Kawaihae Canoe Club and the Waikoloa Canoe Club at Anaehoomalu. Kawaihae Canoe Club began in 1972 when Hawaiian Civic Club members led by Mabel Tolentino, asked Manny Veincent, current head coach to start a canoe club. “In the beginning there was nothing here but kiawe trees. Nothing but cows went out of here and yet we became the best in the state in four years,” said Veincent. Success was built with ohana. “We started with kids 12 years all the way to people in their 40's. The families were involved and that's what made it competitive and efficient,” said Veincent.
    In the mid-1990’s Steve Bess, Robbie Hines, Harry Buscher and Jim Frasier started the six a.m. “kupuna” group, paddling a six man and soon adding Charlie Campbell and Harold Craig. It has since grown and now there is often up to thirty paddlers out at first light. “A lot of aloha and it really becomes a real ohana. They call us the kupuna group just because we're old but we're not full of wisdom or anything,” said Fry, leader and paddler since 2002. But there is much wisdom to be had. “Six people paddling as one person. Part of the beautiful process of paddling,” said Fry.
    For many, paddling is their introduction to Hawaii and Hawaiian cultural values. “We moved over here five years ago and joined the club for the community and we've become enthralled with it,” said Dave Allbee, now a competitive paddler. “Paddle respectfully for fun and appreciate being alive and enjoy the elements,” said Harry Betancourt, paddler since 2012. “Paddling in the shelter of Puukohola and you know the stories. It's humbling,” he added.
    Paddling also engenders the aloha spirit of inclusiveness. “What I find interesting is that all kinds of people from all walks of life show up. We have visitors that have never paddled.  Everybody pulling together. It's just good fun,” said Mike Bates, member for over 15 years.
    KCC has added Coach Tommy Silva, homegrown KCC paddler for the adult racing division and Veincent will take over the 12 to 17 year-olds. “By the time the season starts May 16th with the regatta in Kona, we’ll have about 75. We have two vans that bring them from Waimea for practice Monday through Thursday,” said Veincent.​​    
​    Silva, one of the first club members, started paddling with Kawaihae when he was in high school. “Nobody knew how to paddle and we didn't even know what paddling was about. I paddled Kawaihae for about 17, 18 years and then I went to Kai Opua for about another 17 years. So I learned a lot from a lot of people, but if it wasn't for Manny I wouldn't be here coaching. Just bring the fun of paddling to the club and start winning regattas and races,” said Silva. 
PictureCoach Daniel Legler
    At the southern end of the district is Anaehoomalu and the Waikoloa Canoe Club, which began in 1984. It’s Saturday morning and first time paddlers are just coming out of the water. To augment their numbers, the club has been conducting a Saturday membership drive over the last four weeks. Newly appointed head coach Daniel Legler is excited about the new season. “We have about 100 racing paddlers from kids all the way up to kupuna and 60 or 70 adults that are open or competitive paddlers. My first year I'm just going to take what we have and try to improve on it.”
     The key to success is how blended the crew is and Legler has a few techniques for that. “I buy some sunglasses and spray them with paint so they cannot see. If I'm sitting in four and I'm trying to watch the guy in two and I'm missing him, but you put the blinders on and you feel the canoe,” said Legler. “I have everyone paddle on one side. Put a bucket on and the drag resistance behind the canoe where you can slow your stroke down. All those tools help blend, blend, blend. But the most important thing to me is that everyone who comes down here has fun. If you have fun, everything falls into place,” he added.
     Both clubs have websites where registration information and schedules can be found. KCC ages 12 and up: http://kawaihaecanoeclub.org/ ; Waikoloa Canoe Club ages 10 and up: http://www.waikoloacanoeclub.com/ . Anyone interested is encouraged to come and give it a try. 
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Ten Years on the Ground, 10,000 Hands Strong                           North Hawaii News   March 2015

9/20/2017

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​It takes a garden to grow a community and that is what has happened at the Mala’ai Culinary Garden  over the last ten years. The seed for the garden was germinated ten years ago when Amanda Rieux arrived in Waimea from the Edible School Yard in Berkeley, to be the garden director for the as yet non-existent garden.
   “When we first started I felt like the tailor in the Emperor’s New Clothes. I would tell people, it's going to be great and they were like, uh huh.” But the actual seed for the garden was the work of Waimea Naturopath, Michelle Suber who wanted to contribute to the health of the community she had come to love.
    “She came to the Edible School Yard and spent two weeks with us. She spent time in the garden, in the kitchen classroom, with the executive director, principal and the teachers. She was trying to replicate it,” said Rieux. Two years later and a chance email to Suber and Amanda found herself planted in an as yet imaginary garden.
 “You have to know where you are before you know where you’re going,” said Holly Sergeant-Green, Mala’ai garden teacher and much like the first Polynesians who arrived in the islands, close observation of the land and natural systems was the first order of the day. “You first try to look at it and you watch how the weather patterns are and what the rain fall is and all those things and you see what's already there. Almost immediately I started doing some work with Pua Case and that whole sense of what this place means,” added Rieux.
    They listened and the land spoke to them. “We had a blessing pretty early on with Dean Kalka. We had probably a hundred people and we had no idea where we were going to be centered in this little piece of land but [as it happens], we were all standing around what was to become the central crop area,” said Rieux.
    Garden classes were conducted on straw bales at first that were handy shelters from the relentless trade winds. “I was just out standing in the field, literally in a wind tunnel. You could sit behind the bale and get out of the wind and you could still hear me talk. At first we just talked about it because we didn't have any tools and we didn't have any water and we didn't have a tool shed and we just kind of imagined what it could look like. It was just kids in a field,” said Rieux.
    Initially funded by Slow Foods, the garden seemed to take on a life of its own, reaching out to the community. “Nan Pi`ianaia was really welcoming. She introduced me to Alice and Ichiro Yamaguchi. They have that beautiful garden across from where Lex Brodie used to be and they brought over our first eight kalo huli,” said Rieux.  And just as the kalo once planted becomes the parent to successive generations, the garden ohana evolved. “Community involvement and that whole idea of life bringing life. The more established the garden gets the more people come and they bring whatever their skills and their talents and their interests are,” said Rieux.  
    But the real magic came with the students. “I remember Miss Takamoto's sixth graders with picks just starting off this whole new area and in a year it looked like a completely different place to them and they were so proud of it.” Beginning with open invitations to any classes who wanted to participate, by 2010, the fifth anniversary, there was full participation by science, health, P.E. and tech classes and the garden had gone from a field to a rich haven of learning and health. Speaking at the celebration, then principal John Colson reflected, “If you look out here and you think it's beautiful, it is really beautiful. But that beauty is a reflection of all of you students and the work that you've done.”  
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​    Not only does the garden produce up to three tons of food a year, but the students have created their own learning laboratory where they can engage in authentic learning experiences. “I coordinate with the science teachers with what the students are learning in the e science program, so every [garden] lesson is relevant to what they are learning in class,” said Sergeant-Green, garden teacher and resident science maven. This connection will become even stronger in two years when construction of the new STEM building will be completed. It will be situated adjacent to the garden and its doors will open out into a tangible world of wonder.  
    For students, there are also some big confidence building life lessons. “One of the things that the kids thought was valuable working out here was team work. You figure out how to work together and you see that you can do more work when you're working together. That's so important that they're recognizing it,” said Alethea Lai, executive director since 2010. With their participation in such events as the Super Kitchen, students also come to understand that they are valuable contributing members of the community. “The most important thing that we can do is to empower our kids to feel like leaders in the community and to recognize that they have a role, they have knowledge, they have skills, and that they're valuable,”said Rieux. “But a big mark of success is that the kids like it. They want to be here. We have very few discipline issues.”    
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    In the beginning Rieux was the sole staff member, supported by board members: Jan Dean, Sandy Barr, Vivienne Aronowitz, Roen Hufford, Ben Disco, Patti Cook and Holly Sargent-Green.  Sergeant-Green, previously a marine biologist, and initially a parent volunteer, became a contracted staff member in 2008. With this year’s Food Corp volunteer Seri Niiimi-Burch, there are now three and a half staff members and it’s estimated that the garden has served about 2500 students over the last ten years.
    Although there have been pretty lean times over the years, the belief in the work of the garden has  sustained it. “What has been really gratifying and really hard at the same time is just growing trust and belief with this work with the land and the kids and the trust that we will do it with the greatest respect and care for the kids and the culture and the land,” said Rieux. The lessons of the garden also send shoots out that encircle the wider community.  “The students on the land cultivate a deeper sense of land stewardship, healthy eating, life-long learning, cultural relevance and joy. Their families hear it and as people are drawn here, there's all this learning that waves back in,” added Rieux.
    Financial support is another kind of wave that flows into the garden. In 2007 Mala`ai got non-profit status and began fund raising with their annual Art and Sol event, coming up on April 12.  The garden has provided the opportunity for the broader community to contribute to the effort, creating a sense of solidarity.
    “The people who support us monetarily are not for the most part the parents of the kids who go to this school. And that's amazing. It makes us a stronger community all together,” said Lai.
    Mala’ai has also become a model garden for the broader educational community and with the support of the Kohala Center and such educators as Nancy Redfeather and Koh Ming Wei the Hawaii Island School Garden Network and the Ku Aina Pa program were created.
    “Early on the Rocky Mountain Institute did a feasibility study on how to make Hawaii Island sustainable. One thing they thought there should be a focus on is education around gardening and food. So we met and wanted to know what would be the best way to move this forward and the School Garden Network came from that and out of that came Ku Aina Pa, which is making sure that we're supporting teachers and that the level of teaching in gardens is excellent. If we're really going to create the change that we're talking to our students about, then it has to be on a wider level than just here,” explained Rieux.  
    The most recent Super Kitchen event was a collaboration between Na Kalai Waa and Malaai, inspired by Chadd Paishon’s query, “Is it possible in this day and age for this island to provision one canoe?” This is a vital question for the sustainability of our entire island that Malaai Garden and many burgeoning efforts are striving to answer. “We talked to the students, we talked to the teachers, we talked to community members and we talked to farmers. People felt that the issues of food security and self-sufficiency were just as critical if not more,”said Lai.
    After ten years, it’s clear that Malaai is here to stay. It takes a garden to sustain a community but it also takes a community to sustain a garden and again this community has shown what happens when e lauhoe waa (we all paddle together).
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Tom Penny: Island Talent     Special to North Hawaii News

9/18/2017

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​    The Hawaiian Islands are an ideal shooting location for movies of all kinds and when Hollywood comes to call, they find multi-talented residents such as Tom Penny of Waimea to lend their skills.  
    In 1979 a “strange artistic yearning” brought Penny to Waimea from O`ahu where he had morphed from a U.H. Manoa art student in 1971 to a journeyman carpenter. “When I walked into the back door of the Kahilu Theatre for the first time, I thought well wow, this is it. Music, acting, painting, carpentry. The possibilities were pretty endless.”
    All through the 80’s, when Richard Smart graced the Kahilu stage, Penny worked on all aspects of theater productions. “The first one I did with Richard was The Man Who Came to Dinner. It was really great to see him doing what he loved,” said Penny.
    In the ‘90’s Penny wanted to focus on acting and studied Meisner technique with Jim Jarret. During this time he was cast in Waterworld, (filmed at Kawaihae) where he had just one line. But more importantly, it gave him the chance to watch film production in all its facets, eventually finding his way to set work. Since then Penny has worked as set dresser, prop builder, and as a grip on many movies large and small.  
    “The first blockbuster that I worked on as crew was Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.  I was a set dresser and we shot at the Shipman Estate,” said Penny. Set dressing is both meticulous and creative work. To maintain scene to scene consistency, a file of closely guarded continuity photos are kept. However, there was one photo Penny would have like to keep. “Harrison Ford was sitting in an amphibious vehicle and Spielburg was leaning in talking and I was standing behind them talking to the head set dresser,” said Penny. 
    One of Penny’s jobs on Jurassic World was prop and set construction, which doesn’t have the flash and glamour we associate with movies. “I worked in Honolulu for three months to create all the props for a particular scene and that part of the movie took less than a minute,” said Penny.
    Grip, one of Penny’s other jobs, means manipulating light sources, whether natural or artificial to show subjects to the best affect. He was key grip for Descendents and grip for Predators, shot partially in Waipio Valley. “Lanakila (Mangauil) gave the blessing (at Waipio) and he was very specific about respect for the land and that we could expect the unexpected,” said Penny. They were soon to discover the meaning of those words. “We were loading sand bags into the back of the mule (utility vehicle) and I had the wheels chalked with sand bags and it just rolled right over them and headed down the hill toward the cliff, but there was just enough of a flat run and it stopped before it went over, and I couldn't help but think about Lanakila's words,” he added.  
    Penny was in the right place at the right time with a willingness to follow his heart, work hard and learn his craft from the ground up, and is an example of what the island spirit makes possible.
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Kohanaiki: Connecting the Past to the Future   Ke Ola  Sept / Oct

9/14/2017

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PictureAerial view of Kohanaiki. Photo courtesy of Kohanaiki Shores LLC
Tutu Papa moves quietly in the dark of his Kohanaiki mauka hale in final preparations for a makai gathering journey, gathering the supplies he will need for the day: woven fish traps, gourds to carry the salt and fish he gathers and a lunch of dried fish and poi.    
  He heads down the lava strewn trail lit by the first rays to peak over Hualalai. Almost to the shore, he stops at a pond to collect opae ula, small shrimp that he will use for bait. Continuing on he recognizes Makua, who is already setting his traps. Kalani stops to observe the north and south currents facing off, a restlessly undecided ocean and moves south to set his traps. 
​  Historically, Kohanaiki makai was a gathering place for shoreline fishing, salt collection and gathering opae ula from anchialine ponds by ahupuaʽa residents. Reggie Lee, park cultural advisor, lineal descendent and son of recently passed master weaver, Elizabeth Lee remembers, “My mom's story is they used to come down here and fish. We were shoreline fisherman. They used to dry and salt the fish. They'd go up on a donkey. My grandfather used to trade all the way up to Kalaoa. We even dyed our own net using the bark of the kukui tree. We wanted it dark brown or red to camouflage it.”
   Formerly known as Pine Trees, the popular surfing area came under threat in the late 1980’s with the proposal of a large resort development. The community activated with the goal to keep the area open and accessible. “First we formed a grassroots surfer's group, the Friends of Kohanaiki. We didn't know all the buttons to push to fight something that big. We were working on keeping the beach open,” said original Kohanaiki ʽOhana member and North Kona County Councilwoman, Karen Eoff.
  Then one day Karen and husband Gary Eoff met Angel Pilago. “We met Angel and his wife Nita at the beach. Angel knew about the work of the Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation (NHLC) and he was a visionary and a strategist. As president of the Kohanaiki ʽOhana, he and his wife Nita navigated us through the legal battles,” said Karen.
  Based on two Supreme Court decisions, the impact of any development on the gathering and usage rights of Native Hawaiians, as well as the environment must be taken into consideration. Following these decisions in 2000, Hawaiʽi State adopted Act 50, which required a cultural impact statement as well as an environmental one.   
   Professional legal support in combination with an activated community eventually won the day. Rebecca Villegas who was born and raised in Kona and grew up at Kohanaiki was one of many voices raised. “When I was 14 years old I gave a speech to the panel requesting that efforts be made to protect Kohanaiki. Growing up at Kohanaiki, it has been a place where I've celebrated my own birthdays and my family’s birthdays. I raised my daughter there. It's a grounding place, not only for myself but for the whole community,” said Rebecca.
​  The legal battle over, in 2001 Harry Kim brought all the stake holders to the table and after two years of meetings, a good faith agreement was forged. The zoning changed from resort to open space along the shoreline, with the developer donating 100 acres to the County of Hawaiʽi for the creation of Kohanaiki Beach Park.
​  Since that time the corporate entity, now Kohanaiki Shores, has honored the agreement, creating a public park along the shoreline with camping, bathrooms and showers. They have also complied with the highest standards of environmental protection, creating an Audubon award winning sanctuary for such endangered birds as the Hawaiian stilt and the sooty tern.  
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Keiki Surf for the Earth participants with their signs. Photo courtesy of Karen Eoff
PictureLineal descendant Reggie Lee harvesting ipu gourds in the canoe garden. Photo by Jan Wizinowich
​Not Your Ordinary Beach Park
  Although many changes have taken place since Kohanaiki mauka residents traveled to the shore for sustenance, today Kohanaiki is carrying on in the spirit of community resource, the perpetuation of Hawaiian cultural practices and sustainability.
  Turn off the traffic-choked highway and one is immediately plunged into an eye-of-storm calmness. A narrow road lined with great heaves of lava, winds towards the sea. The road narrows and curves left running parallel to the shoreline and a series of campsites tucked under the numerous tree heliotrope. A little further on a large collection of young surfers ride the southern summer swells while parents are watchful on the shore. 
  Colorful hand-painted signs with reminders to take care of the beach, drive slowly and live with aloha, line the entry drive, complements of Keiki Surf for the Earth, a contest for youth 14 and under, now in its 22nd year.
  It’s not just about surfing though. “Kids have access to a space that is safe and healthy where they can learn and grow and have an understanding of their kuleana. They clean up marine debris, take care of the reef ecosystem and learn how to conserve water and reduce one use plastics,” said Rebecca.
  The road ends and a foot path continues past the halau, Ka Hale Waʽa, today having its thatching repaired. An ahu and lele stands south of the halau and forms the entrance to a 17’ diameter star compass, designed by Gary and Kalepa Baybayan and used to teach way finding.   
  Drawn to the star compass’s connection to canoe culture, Kumu Keala Ching brings kūpuna to the park. “I brought kūpuna down to learn about the dial itself, the movement, the celestial stars summer solstice and winter solstice and to bring information to our people by learning about the area,” said Kumu.
  Beyond the star compass is the canoe garden backed by some of the 200 anchialine ponds that dot the area. Carved out of a space once choked with fountain grass and naupaka the canoe garden contains large patches of ipu gourds, sweet potatoes and kalo.
  Besides providing sustenance and materials for the creation of traditional implements, the garden is a living laboratory of sustainability that teaches learners by allowing them to plunge their hands into the soil and life’s mysteries hidden there.
PictureLanakila Learning Center students preparing 'ie'ie. Photo courtesy of Karen Eoff
​ A Learning Laboratory
  Kohanaiki Beach Park provides an ideal setting for students to engage in authentic cultural and environmental learning. Neighboring Innovations Public Charter School has a bi-annual hands-on science program at the park. “We incorporate a lot of ethno-mathematics into our curriculum. Cordage and cordage making are one of the corner stones of our science curriculum,” said Meg Dehning, Innovations middle school teacher.
  The students experience a combination of hands-on engagement to learn about environmental science, cultural practices and give back with service work. “They had an opportunity to learn about the culture / ecological heritage of that particular section of the coastline. The students got to do lauhala weaving with Aunty Elizabeth Lee, learn to strip hau and took part in the ceremony for the star compass that was presided over by Kalepa Baybayan,” said Meg. 
  Service learning allows students the chance to give back at the same time they were receiving. “They really liked the hands on work, especially when it came to learning to weave from Aunty Elizabeth or clearing the pond or helping dig the garden. It gave them the opportunity to learn in an authentic way. These are things that you just can't teach in the classroom,” said Meg. 
   Another regular group at the park is Lanakila Learning Center, an alternative high school program in Hilo. Their environmental science curriculum involves what Director Wendy Hamane calls full circle learning. Students teamed up with Gary to propagate, harvest, process and use iʽeiʽe, a vine that grows on ohiʽa trees and is traditionally used for weaving and cordage.
  “Realizing how much work went into gathering the leaves, cleaning and stripping and the whole thing. They understand the hard work that goes into it and they really appreciate the manaʽo that's passed down by cultural practitioners because they've been on the receiving end of it. A whole different level of appreciation,” said Wendy.
​   Next year’s program will focus on fiber art and cordage. “We hope to help them with their cordage garden. Gary’s going to teach the kids how to make cordage out of hau and coconut husk and hopefully the kids can help weave the hau to make the entry rope for the front of the halau and to learn to lash the double-hulled canoe that they're in the process of building. They have to come up with two miles of cordage,” said Wendy.
 
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Lanakila Learning Center Students. Photo courtesy of Karen Eoff
​A Win-Win Model for the Future
  The Kohanaiki Beach Park provides a sense of place and connectedness to the past and the future. And it’s an example of what can be done when people bring their best intentions to the table. “The park is a model for a better community where the shore remains with for and by the community, and managed by a consortium of county, community and developer representatives. The vision is that the model be perpetuated elsewhere. The coastline must be available for everyone,” said Rebecca.
 
For more information contact:
Camping permits: https://hawaiicounty.ehawaii.gov/camping/all,details,57824.html
Contact writer: janwiz@gmail.com
 
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Gary Eoff: One Artist's Voyage      Ke Ola Magazine Sept / Oct

9/14/2017

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    Like the cordage he weaves, Gary Eoff’s art stretches back through time to honor and connect with the ancestors. Previously from California, Gary and his wife Karen came to Hawaiʽi in 1980 to surf and visit Karen’s sister but found much more.  “We fell in love with Hawaiʽi, went home and packed up,” said Gary.                                    
​   With a passion for art, traditional crafts and a thirst for learning, Gary has created an array of authentic Hawaiian artifacts that capture the highly advanced cultural practices of ancient Hawaiʽi. “Learning about the past and creating artifacts from traditional materials, you go through the whole process as if you're living in the past,” said Gary.
​   Before coming to Hawaiʽi, Gary was mostly a three dimensional artist. “Right from college I just started being a craftsman. I did sculptures, welding and metal sculpture and then jewelry. I carved a lot of shell and bone,” said Gary.
​   So it’s not surprising that Gary’s first endeavor in Hawaiʽi involved making fishing lures, a utilitarian three dimensional art form. Gary creates the inserts that use the colors and shapes of prey to entice big game fish to strike.  The lures, which he still makes, are a collaboration with Marlin Parker, son of lure inventor dad George. “I didn't know about fishing but I knew about crafting. Marlin, being a great fisherman knows what makes a great lure. The action of the lure is as important as anything,” said Gary.
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​Teachers
  A convergence of Gary’s curiosity, encounters provided by a budding cultural renaissance and his connection to the Kohanaiki Beach area led him on an odyssey of exploration of Hawaiian crafts.
  When the student is ready the teacher will appear and that’s what happened when Gary met Angel at Kohanaiki Beach. In the late ‘80’s when Kohanaiki came under threat of development, the Kohanaiki ʽOhana was born. “Angel Pilago was my first teacher and mentor and our Kohanaiki ʽOhana leader. He’s a cordage master and his expertise is lashing among other things. He taught me to make fishing equipment, tools, gourds and drums. Items that were used culturally at the beach,” said Gary.
  Angel, his wife, Nita, Gary and wife Karen began doing workshops centered on Hawaiian traditional and cultural practices. “We wanted to have the items to demonstrate the use of resources. Our presentations focused on how to gather materials, make the items and take care of them. I love the aesthetics and sensibilities of Hawaiian utilitarian objects,” said Gary.
  Gary continued to throw his net wide to discover other traditional crafts such as gourds. They have decorative patterns and are lashed with cordage. “Tying the gourds is super challenging. There's only a knot at the beginning and the end, they're all slip knots and there's many different ways to do them,” said Gary. But before he could learn to tie them, he had to grow gourds and get the shapes right and study the pāwehe (tattoo designs) on the gourds.
  Gary found his way to his next teacher when he attended a talk by expert weaver and cordage maker Willy McGlouthlin at the King Kamehmeha Hotel in 1992. “I had heard his name at a cultural festival. He was just making mahiole (Hawaiian helmet) He invited me to Puna and I studied with him for 20 years,” said Gary.  
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​You can’t learn about Hawaiian cordage without knowing about olonā. It’s the king of all cordage plants, endemic to Hawaiʽi and the strongest natural fiber in the world.
“The Hawaiians planted it everywhere. It was used extensively in their material culture because of its strength and durability. It was tended constantly. If you grew one acre you were friends of the overseer, if you grew two acres you were friends with the chief and if you grew three acres you were friends with the King,” said Gary.
  From Willy, Gary learned the full circle of cordage making and uses. “Willy had the touch and I learned the touch. Find it, mālama it, process it, use it. Willy’s main message was to protect the resource and to gather it in a sustainable way. You don't harvest unless you give back and I didn't get any plants until I made them flourish in the forest,” said Gary.
  Cordage making connected him to another of his teachers, Dr. Isabella Abbott. “She gave a talk and I went with my olonā sling. She knew what it was and invited me to come to Bishop Museum. I spent one whole day down in the basement with the feathered capes. She would have them get out everything that was made with olonā. I could touch it, feel it, look at it,” said Gary.
​   Gary's interest in printing designs on Hawaiian kappa led him to master printer, Hiroki Morinoue in Holualoa. "I learned various styles of printing --- monoprint, western printing using a printing press and eastern style printing using a baren."
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Cultural Implements and Voyaging Arts
  Through the mounting of way-finding and cultural exhibits, Gary has shared his passion for the knowledge and skills of the early Hawaiians. This comes through in the meticulously researched artifacts he creates and makes available to anyone. “I think it's so important that people can handle the actual objects,” said Gary.
  Entering the Eoff’s small living room is like entering a miniature museum that illustrates Gary’s creative craftsmanship over the last 37 years. Every corner and wall space is covered with the evidence of a life spent studying and honing his crafts. A post is draped with gourds, recessed shelves serve as displays of various weapons and implements and mahiole march atop a bookshelf.
  Gary reaches into the refrigerator and removes a bag that contains a partially completed mahiole, the most complex of weaving crafts. On average it takes about 350 hours to weave. Using iʽeiʽe fiber, the mahiole is woven over a carved wood head form. Its fine weaving and snug fit provided protection for chiefs going into battle. 
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The star compass is at the heart of the exhibit. “My main focus is on the voyaging canoe and the celestial star compass used for deep ocean navigation by early Polynesians,” said Gary.
​   In collaboration with local artists Dave Reisland (marquetry) and Cliff Johns (wood turner), the star compass was transformed into several three dimensional wood inlay pieces, one of which won first place at the Hawaiian Woodworkers Guild Show in 2016.
   Gary also created a 17 foot diameter star compass employed as part of the educational program at Kohanaiki Beach Park.
   A recent collaboration stems from Gary’s curiosity about the ancient skill of bird catching, and pairs a woven bird cage with a painting by local artist, Dominic Tidmarsh.
   To capture oʽo and iʽiwi, whose feathers were used to make ʽahu ʽula, the capes that adorned royalty, bird catchers tethered a bird inside a woven cage with food. A pole coated with a sticky substance was placed next to the cage, capturing the bird.  
​   “It will be a diorama with the bird cage and a pole in front of Dominic’s painting showing a little broken piece of olonā that the bird was tied to and the bird flying off over Puʽuoʽo because it's an oʽo bird,” said Gary.
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​World Wide Voyage: Hawaiʽi Shares Its Culture with the World
  When the Hōkūleʽa sailed up the Potomac River to the Smithsonian, it carried a traveling exhibit of traditional crafts created by Gary. This evolved into the Worldwide Voyage: Hawaii Shares its Culture with the World, an exhibit inspired by the three year voyage, initially mounted at the Volcano Art Center and currently at Isaac’s Art Center until Sept. 30.
  The exhibit evolved through a request from the Hōkūleʽa ʽOhana Waʽa. “They decided they were going to tour the East coast extensively, so they decided they wanted an exhibit. I got together with Ed Kaneko, master lauhala weaver, Cliff did bowls and Dave helped with the wood,” said Gary.
  The collection traveled on the Hōkūleʽa, up the East Coast and a larger exhibit was put on display at the Smithsonian during a festival to celebrate Hōkūleʽa’s journey. “I thought of telling the story of the World Wide Voyage. The items are all on display with photos of the voyage from Oiwi T.V. There’s some art by Dave, Cliff and I that's contemporary and inspired by the voyage,” said Gary.
​Aʽo: To Teach is to Learn, To Learn is to Teach
  For many years, Gary just concentrated on learning the art, but through his teachers he came to realize that’s only part of the process. When you have discovered and developed skills, it’s time to pass them on, which Gary does through exhibits and continuous workshops at Kohanaiki Beach Park.  
  Coming up at the Volcano Art Center Gary will be providing a series of rotating exhibits focused on specific aspects of traditional arts. “Every time I speak with him it's like a whirlwind of information. He has so much to share that we've committed to doing these rotating cultural exhibits,” said Emily Weiss, Volcano Art Center Director.
  The key to our future lies in the past and through his journey with Hawaiian cultural crafts, Gary has come to understand how the wisdom, traditional practices and skills of the ancestors can protect the land and ocean resources going forward.
 
To see more of Gary’s work go to: www.http//garyeoff.com 
​Photos by Jack Wolford
Contact writer: janwiz@gmail.com
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Kohala Watershed: Bringing Life Back to the Land                             Ke Ola Magazine   June / July

8/28/2017

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PictureCrew member, Kukui Keliihoomalu in the forest.
  Kohala Mountain is a cloaked monarch crowned with a 50,000 acre cloud forest that feeds the streams of Kohala district and its people. The trade winds bring warm wet air into the cool mountains and create a constant source of moisture that in pre-western contact time fed the extensive Kohala field system.    
  Today, Kohala Mountain still provides approximately 6% (154 million gallons per day) of the sustainable yield of water for Hawaiʽi Island. The watershed is a primary source of drinking and irrigation water for North and South Kohala and parts of Hāmākua, but with an enlarged, restored watershed the potential is much greater.
  Recognizing this, in 2003 DLNR, which had been working with seven other watershed projects around the state, brought the Kohala Mountain land owners and managers together. “There was a push from the DLNR to try to look at watershed forest issues on a bigger picture level as a whole. Lisa Hadway who was working within the DLNR started the momentum. They called a meeting and we found that our goals were in alignment,” said Pono Von Holt, Ponoholo Ranch owner. 
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Kohala Watershed seen from Kawaihae.
The land owners and managers that include: Kahuā, Parker and Ponoholo ranches, Hawaiʽi State (DLNR), Kamehameha Schools, Department of Hawaiian Homelands, Queen Emma Land Co., Laupāhoehoe Nui LLC and Surety Kohala signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), and the Kohala Watershed Partnership was born.
  The eighth watershed partnership to be formed statewide, the KWP consists of approximately 68,000 acres of forest and grasslands on the windward and leeward slopes of Kohala Mountain, the island’s oldest volcano.
  The partners agreed that the organization would have a very limited to non-existent bureaucracy, but realizing they needed a paid staff member, they worked with a non-profit fiscal agent to hire Melora Purell as their first program coordinator.
   “I sat down with each of the partners when I started the job, and the key thing I wanted to understand was why they signed on to this. I was quite blown away how it was driven by land owners and managers wanting to do what was right, what was pono for the land, the ecosystem, the forest, the watershed,” said Melora.
​  One of the first tasks of the KWP prior to hiring staff was to create a management plan. “The management plan was already in place when I was hired, and was really clear about what needed to be done, why it needed to be done and how it needed to be done. I had this plan in front of me and I just needed to get to work,” said Melora.
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Laying fence.
The Kohala Center with its current KWP Coordinator, Cody Dwight, seeks out funding and manages the “boots on the ground” work. “That's their forte being an organization that pools together these different programs and facilitates funding as well as the operation side so we can pool our goals and our time and effort,” said Pono.
First Steps
  Starting at the top, the idea was to extend the forest reserve zone down the mountain by eliminating feral ungulates and installing fencing to create “exclosures” in conservation parlance. “Take the forest away from the cattle and move them down the mountain. We're going to increase the size of the watershed by several thousand acres into our ranch country and that will give us a buffer for invasives,” said Pono.  
  Getting the feral cattle, probably descendants from Vancouver’s time, out of the forest was no easy task. Individual efforts by the ranches in the past had not been successful, but under KWP, the three ranches, Ponoholo, Kahuā and Parker, were able to remove feral cattle from the forest. “We learned that just by the fact that we put the three ranches together in a concerted effort, we were successful in taking back a large piece of ground,” said Pono.
  Fencing is the sustainable component of ungulate control. “The first fence up was on Ponoholo Ranch, about 100 acres. Right below, Parker ranch extended from that along the inside of the Honokane Valley ridge and right in to the edge of Pololū,” said Pono. “By the time we get done we'll have 3000 acres that we've taken back and in 50 years or so, it will be reforested,” he added. 
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Koaia corridor, Kohala Mountain
Pelekane Bay Watershed:
  The Pelekane Bay Watershed in Kawaihae is a graphic example of the importance of a botanically healthy watershed. The Koaiʽa Corridor, which is in the upper Pelekane Bay Watershed, runs mauka from DLNR’s  Koaiʽa Tree Sanctuary on Kohala Mountain Road and is a two mile riparian corridor of about 300 acres nestled between Waiakamali and Luahine streams. Down slope in the lower Pelekane Bay Watershed, the two streams eventually merge into Makeahua stream that in turn empties into Pelekane Bay.
  The watershed needs a layered diversity of plants to capture and absorb the rains otherwise sediment-filled water flows down the mountainside and into the ocean. Standing on the Koaiʽa Tree Sanctuary fence-line, the contrast is stunning. Inside the sanctuary are groves of koaiʽa, large healthy ohia and lower canopy natives. Outside the fence is a windswept grassland.
  Once a canopied forest, the lower Pelekane Bay Watershed is almost completely devoid of vegetation and is severely eroded. “This mountain all used to look like the Koaiʽa Tree Sanctuary,” said Cody. The consequences of the denuded watershed can easily be seen in Pelekane Bay. Once a biologically diverse estuary, Pelekane Bay has been inundated with sediment washed down the drastically eroded mountainside.
  “To protect the coral reef we have to stabilize this mountain from eroding. Get some vegetation to grow in critical erosion areas,” said Cody. The main obstacle to this is a large uncontrolled herd of feral goats that live in the watershed. “The goats live in gulches and they eat the grass from the top and then they go back down into the gulches,” said Cody. 
  A temporary measure to control erosion while working towards revegetation is the installation of check dams, which are constructed as wire and cloth-wrapped rock walls in key drainages, and are capable of holding up to 10 tons of sediment. In August 2015 a large brush fire followed a week later by a brief, intense storm event put those check dams to the test. “It was like a perfect storm event. Those sediment check dams we had in place all filled up,” said Cody. 
​   Changes in water quality are being monitored by cooperating conservation partners, The Nature Conservancy and NOAA. “The water quality has improved. Changes in Pelekane Bay. Changes on the landscape. These areas are looking a lot better,” said Cody.
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Pono von Holt on his Ponoholo Ranch
PictureField crew captain, Haia Aweloa walking the Pelekane watershed section.
Creating Conditions for Growth
  The ultimate goal is to have a re-vegetated watershed, but to do this it is necessary to remove invasive plants and create positive conditions for the native plants that previously populated the watershed. Propagating and out-planting, along with fencing, invasive plant control and anything else that needs to get done, is the job of the four person KWP field crew.
  Crew leader Haia Auweloa, Kukui Keliʽihoʽomalu, Jordon Wills and new volunteer crew member Makaliʽi Bertelmann and I drive up Kohala Mountain Road and enter the lower Pelekane Bay Watershed. The crew spreads out to survey the area and find several aʽaliʽi with mature seeds, which are collected and taken to the State Tree Nursery where plants are propagated for future out-planting. “In the Koaiʽa Corridor we have about 60,000 plants already and below we have about 20,000 plants,” said Haia.
​  When they’re ready to be planted the seedlings will go through a couple of stages of acclimation. At the nursery they’re set outside in a semi-sheltered area and watering is continued. The next step is to take them up to the watershed for planting, where they are sheltered by tall grass and will continue to receive water through a temporary irrigation system fed from water tanks and when established, the plants will stop receiving irrigation.
The Watershed is our Kumu
  The Kohala Watershed has become an outdoor classroom and laboratory for Kohala’s children. Kohala Center’s Mahina Patterson coordinates place-based, hands-on science classes in the watershed. “Because the Kohala Watershed Partnership is housed at the Kohala Center, we have this resource to share with the community,” said Mahina.
  Being in the watershed allows learners to explore independently and make observations. “I ask students: ‘What do you see inside the fenced unit versus the outside landscape?’  We read the story that the land has to tell us,” said Mahina.
  Students also get an opportunity to think and act like scientists. “Another great lesson is biodiversity. What are the species here and what are we seeing?  They get to experience doing real science using scientific tools, such as a transect,” said Mahina.
  The watershed also gives students the opportunity to experience restoration work and to grapple with its challenges. “I was on Puʽu Pili with a group of Kohala Middle School students, learning about pig trapping and ginger control. It was an opportunity to show them why fences are important. Let's together look at the effects of the pigs on the forest, do ungulate surveys. Real science,” said Mahina.
  The watershed also educates the heart and fosters gratitude. “It’s just so beautiful and so different that even kids that had a bad attitude when they got into the van, when they get there, everything shifts,” said Mahina.
​  The KWP is a shining example of what can be accomplished through the sharing of a vision and the willingness to lend our hands and hearts to reclaim our source of life.
 
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Students investigating the watershed.
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Kanu o ka ʽĀina Graduates Take Wing                                                 North Hawaii News June 2, 2017

6/21/2017

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PicturePolani proudly displaying her diploma.
Polani Kahakalau and Luana Zablan, two alumna of Kanu of ka Aina New Century Public Charter School, are 2017 graduates of UH-Hilo. The seeds of learning and wisdom planted several years ago help young Hawaiians grow into contributing community members through the study and perpetuation of Hawaiian culture. The two graduates received their educational foundations at Kanu O Ka Aina and are the fruits of early efforts to create an educational system that answers the needs of indigenous children. “Kanu helps students recognize their gifts and talents and explore them throughout their 13-year journey, so after graduation they can pursue their passions as a way of life,” said founder Dr. Ku Kahakalau.
    When she started teaching Hawaiian studies at Honokaa High School, Kahakalau noticed students were earning A’s in her class and struggling in their other classes and realized that, “Students need more than one class where they can work up to their potential,” she said. As the focus of her subsequent doctoral studies, Kahakalau and her husband, Nalei, created Kano o ka Aina Academy, a school within a school at Honokaa High School.
    Then in 1999, through the efforts of the Kahakalau’s and many other community members and organizations, funding was obtained to begin Kanu o ka Aina New Century Public Charter School. “We believed that as Hawaiians we should design our own educational system,” she said. “Hawaiian children have a lot more capacity and potential than people give them credit for. Kanu was designed for students to explore their gifts and talents and become contributing members of the community.”
    Graduates Polani Kahakalau and Luana Zablan are shining examples of this educational wisdom. Polani was part of the first group of students who attended Kanu o ka Aina from kindergarten through high school. Her passions are hula and performing arts, and on May 13 she graduated from UH-Hilo with honors and a bachelor’s degree in performing arts. “Kanu definitely helped me get to where I am. With Kanu we're always reminded who we are and where we come from, and I've been blessed to have wonderful parents that really, really encourage education,” said Polani.  
PicturePolani with her afterschool hula drama students.
​At the heart of Kanu o ka Aina is education with aloha. “The teachers genuinely care about their students. They ask how you're doing and make suggestions. They really get to know the students, and show us how to care for one another, to love and show empathy. I'm able to do things I thought I could never do,” she said. This year, Polani created a hula drama for her 20 K-8 afterschool hula students at Paauilo School, which was performed at the Paauilo Hongwanji. “We were taught at Kanu what our ancestors did. They would learn and from this knowledge, they would pass it on to the next generation,” she said.
    Back at the beginning, Ku Kahakalau saw the brilliancy in her Hawaiian students and predicted that students could build on the successes they had in Hawaiian studies to excel in other subjects.
    “It's created a stability within my life and made me be more open-minded. Being raised in the Hawaiian culture has created a wonderful foundation of being accepted, and being understanding of others and things taught to me,” said Polani. In the fall, she plans to begin a master’s degree in organizational leadership at Argosy University, and has a long-range goal to open a culturally-focused theater company to educate people around the world about Hawaii’s culture, language and history. “I have these beautiful two platforms (parents, Kanu) back at home. I want to make them proud and make my community proud,” said Polani.
PictureLuana Zablan
Similarly, Zablan’s  Kanu o ka ʽĀina education has provided a solid foundation that has launched her out into the world. She graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Fine Arts. Among her many art accolades is the selection of her art for the cover of the spring 2015 issue of Hohonu, UH-Hilo’s journal of academic writing.             
​    Upon graduation from Kanu o ka Aina, Zablan was the first student there to receive the Dorrance Foundation Scholarship, which enabled her to travel across the U.S. and to several European countries including Budapest and Hungary, working with Habitat for Humanity building and renovating small apartments. Zablan also visited the    East Coast of the U.S. and participated in an entrepreneurship class in Tucson, Arizona.
        In 2015, she received the Audrey S. Furukawa Study Abroad Scholarship which enabled her to attend the Anglo-American University in the Czech Republic for a semester. After graduation, Zablan accepted a paid position with the Dorrance Program, and in the fall will be working as a study abroad mentor in Orvieto, Italy. She also plans to pursue a master’s degree in drawing and painting at UH-Manoa.
​    Zablan’s words of advice are, “Learn from the past, be active in the present and prepare for the future. Take it upon yourself to strive for excellence, focus on opportunities and give back to your communities.”
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Bringing Hokulea Home: The Community Gathers to Honor Waimea Voyagers      North Hawaii News   April 7, 2017

6/16/2017

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PicturePomai Bertelmann and Ka'iulani Murphy steer for home
On Wed. April 12 at 5 p.m., the community will gather at Kahilu Town Hall to honor the Waimea canoe crew members who will be sailing Hokulea home from Tahiti on the last leg of her Malama Honua Voyage.
    Although sharing Waimea roots, each crew member has their own journey to the canoe. Kala Thomas, who will sail on Hikianalia, grew up with the canoe in Waimea. 
​    “Kala Thomas was in seventh grade when Uncle Tiger Espere, Steve Coffee, and Gary Benson built the Hoku’ili’ili at the school. He helped build that. So his genealogy is actually from that time,” said Pomai Bertelmann, who will captain Hokulea.
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Pua Lincoln
    Pua Lincoln, who will be part of the navigation team on Hōkūleʽa a, was at Waimea Elementary when Mauloa sailed into her life. “My first official introduction to any canoe was when Mauloa was built. I was at Waimea Elementary and they took her into the gym and set her up and when I saw her, I was just awestruck. And then later on I got trained to sail that canoe and that was the hook,” said Lincoln.
​    From an early age, Lincoln was aware of her family’s voyaging legacy. “I had heard stories from my own kupuna and my father about our ancestral migrational path and how we came from a family of voyagers,” said Lincoln. Lincoln is humbled and honored, “To be part of this epic journey to bring Hōkūleʽa home. When she comes home, it's full circle and all about returning her back to all of those people whose prayers have kept her going, moving and afloat, perpetuating her ability to persevere,” said Lincoln.
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Ka'iulani Murphy 2000 voyage.
After finishing high school at Kamehameha Schools on Oahu, lead navigator Ka’iulani Murphy found her way to the canoe when she attended a lecture by Nainoa Thompson at the Hawaiian Studies Center at U.H. Manoa.
    “To hear Nainoa talk, I was in awe and my sophomore year I took voyaging courses. Hōkūleʽa was in dry dock and so I spent Saturdays and volunteer work days there. When she was relaunched spring semester, our class got to sail her to Molokai as part of her sea trials. I was one of the few that didn't get seasick so they asked me to come back,” said Murphy.
    But Murphy also has strong roots with the aina in Waimea and in her family’s Waipio Valley loi where they grew kalo. “All three of us Pomai, Pua Lincoln and I all grew up in Kuhio Village. My mom's father is from Waipiʽo and growing up our family spent just about every weekend there on the ʽāina. I realized later how fortunate we were to grow up like that,” said Murphy.
    In 2000 Murphy took her first blue water voyage from Tahiti to Hawaii and she looks forward to repeating the experience. “I love that my first voyage was coming home to Hawaii. It's really special to see the islands pulled up from the sea. It really gives you a sense of how our kupuna first saw the islands when they came” said Murphy.
​    Although a repeat of her 2000 experience, this voyage will take Murphy to the next level in a long journey with the canoe. “Pomai and I were nervous about stepping into those roles but at the same time realizing it isn't about us, but about our teachers making the investment over the years, hoping that we would assume the roles as time went on. But oh my gosh, it's now already?” said Murphy.
PictureClay Bertelmann
Pomai Bertelmann, who will captain the voyage, has grown up with the canoe. Her father Clay Bertelmann was instrumental in the creation of Mauloa, Makali’i and Na Kalai Waa, the Hawaii Island canoe organization.
    For Bertelmann this final leg and the entire Malama Honua represents the next phase, “The leadership’s vision of succession. Over the last 40 years we've evolved into a thriving voyaging family and community. It is a great image to see all of these diverse people coming together and see this moku move forward because of all of that collaboration. A life force that comes into one entity and works synergistically.”
    Synergy was at work in the creation of a crew list, a complicated task that was shared with Murphy. “What we worked to do was create lists on our own, come back and match them up. I had to remember, go back through all kinds of documentations, crew lists and look at different skills. It's been a lot of relying upon what I've learned and solidifying decisions with pule,” said Bertelmann. ​
PictureScott Kanda, Oiwi T.V.
A crucial quality for crew members is the willingness to participate in exchanges with the community, without which none of this would be possible. “This voyage is what the community has given to us. It’s an indication that the community has supported us and has been behind us all the way,” said Bertelmann.
    Technological improvements have made it possible to engage communities across the globe. Scot Kanda, who grew up in Honokaa and works with Oiwi T.V. will be sailing on Hikianalia. Kanda brings communication skills to the canoe. “They stand their watch and then they go into the editing bay and they cut and they edit raw footage,” said Bertelmann.
​    When the voyage is completed, the Ohana Waa will begin to put lessons learned into place on our aina. “In the wake of this voyage, to see the collective team that may be coming together to move forward with the larger purpose of aina-based education in our schools and communities,” said Bertelmann.
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The voyage home will be one of gratitude for Hokulea’s far-reaching influence. “Voyaging is one thing, but language, education, music, dancing all of those things were ignited by the matriarch Hōkūleʽa ,” said Lincoln.
​
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To Celebrate the King: Kamehameha Day and Kamehameha's Legacy of Aloha         Ke Ola Magazine May/June 2017

6/14/2017

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Every June 11 the islands celebrate Kamehameha, the Hawai‘i Island warrior chief who changed the course of history in the 18th and 19th century by uniting the Hawaiian Islands, preparing Hawai‘i for the future in a rapidly changing world. “In my opinion he is the greatest Hawaiian who ever lived—not only being the one to unify the islands, but having the vision, the power, the mana and the dedication and loyalty of thousands of Hawaiians who believed in what he did,” said Fred Cachola, historian and member of the Royal Order of Kamehameha I, Moku O Kohala.  
   When Kamehameha’s mother Keku‘iapoiwa became pregnant, it was prophesied that the baby she was carrying would be a slayer of chiefs. On hearing the prophesy, Hawai‘i Island Chief Alapa‘inui began to plot to kill the infant.
   The great warrior Nae‘ole was selected by Keku‘iapoiwa to be the child’s caretaker, and he enlisted the entire Kohala populace in what Fred calls the “grand Kohala conspiracy” to do whatever it took to protect the infant. When Kamehameha was born at Kokoiki, Nae‘ole spirited him away, following a clandestine route to ‘?wini, an easily defensible plateau three valleys past Polol?.
   The events of that journey can be found in the very place names of Kohala. Stories point out names like H?‘ea, which means to arrive, to take first breaths. When baby Kamehameha arrives at H?w?, the breath of hunger, the wet nurse isn’t there. Kapa‘au, with its many streams, had to be traversed and his kapa cloth got wet moving through the water.
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Lei draping ceremony in Kohala. Photo courtesy of North Kohala Community Resource Center.
PictureKing Kamehameha I
Kamehameha is well known for the Herculean task of unifying the islands. But after unity and peace had been attained, Kamehameha set a standard for leadership whose guiding principle was the well-being of the people.
   “These ali‘i were what we would call today ‘servant leaders,’ and they probably served more than they led. They saw service and leadership as companion qualities that they had to have. They saw the two as very integral in creating a state that I would call pono,” said Fred.
   Following Kamehameha’s death in Kona in 1819, western influences continued to bombard the Kingdom of Hawai‘i. Alarmed by rapid changes, Kamehameha V (Lot Kapuāiwa) established the Royal Order of Kamehameha I in 1865 to commemorate his grandfather. Then in 1871, he established Kamehameha Day, a celebration in honor of Kamehameha I’s accomplishments and contributions to the kingdom.
PictureEarly Kamehameha Day celebration in Kapiolani Park
History of the Celebrations
   The first celebration took place in 1872 and was a day of festivities of all sorts. “Early celebrations of Kamehameha Day featured carnivals, fairs, and lots of racing—foot races, horse races and even velocipede races. Accounts in the newspapers of the day counted over 4,000 people at Kapi‘olani Park in Waikīkī. Kalākaua and Kapi‘olani were in attendance. 
   After the overthrow of the monarchy and the rapid changes that followed, Kamehameha Day celebrations were subdued. Then in 1914, a Kamehameha Day Celebration Committee was formed and the day was celebrated with much of the old grandeur. 
   The 1916 annual Chamber of Commerce of Honolulu publication described that year’s celebration in Honolulu as beginning with a parade from ‘A‘ala Park to the statue in front of Aliʽiōlani Hale for lei draping and the singing of Hawai‘i Ponoʽī. The parade then proceeded to ‘Iolani Palace, the capitol of the territory at the time. The festivities also opened and closed with horse races in Kapi‘olani Park. Kamehameha Day celebrations continued and became one of the first official holidays declared when Hawai‘i became a state in 1959.​
PictureKohala pāʽū riders. Photo courtesy of North Kohala Community Resource Center.
To Celebrate the King
   Kohala, Hilo and Kona are the three Royal Order moku (districts) on Hawai‘i Island and each will host a celebration on or around Kamehameha Day. Each moku represents a different phase of Kamehameha’s life.
   Kohala, Kamehameha’s birth place, has the original statue, in front of the historic courthouse in Kapa‘au. Originally bound for Honolulu, the statue was lost at sea when the ship carrying it sank in Port Stanley in the Falkland Islands. It was eventually recovered in 1882 by Captain Jervis, who spotted the statue in front of a store while strolling around Port Stanley. He purchased it and brought it to Honolulu. 
   A replacement statue was already underway and plans were made to install the first statue in Kohala at the school house in ʽĀinakea on May 8, 1883. Kalākaua and an honor guard of 118 men arrived in Kohala for two days of festivities around the unveiling. On May 7, the Royal Hawaiian Band enlivened the neighborhood with song and in the evening presented a concert. The statue unveiling took place the next day at 3pm, with many admirers placing lei at the foot of the statue as the band played Hawai‘i Ponoʽī.
​    Every year since that unveiling, there has been a Kamehameha Day celebration in Kohala on June 11. This year’s celebration will start with the lei draping ceremony at 7:45am, opening with a blessing, which is followed by hula and music. The parade, which begins at 10am, will have a number of floats, hālau hula, and a special pāʽū unit of Kahuā Ranch reunion honorees. “The community of Kohala is very involved in the Kamehameha Day celebration. People line the street all the way from Hōʽea,” said Ski Kwiatkowski, Royal Order of Kamehameha Moku O Kohala member.
   The parade ends at Kamehameha Park where there is a ho‘olaule‘a, including Makahiki games, hula, music and other entertainment. “The Royal Order has an awesome display of all of Kamehameha’s life, from birth to death and everything in between. There are markers for the places that Nae‘ole took the baby,” said Ski.
PictureRoyal Order of Kamehameha I Māmalahoa, Hilo. Courtesy of the Royal Order of Kamehameha I, Māmalahoa
King Kamehameha’s War Years
   Although Kamehameha spent his early years in Kohala, it was in Hilo that he confirmed prophesies by lifting the 7,000-pound Naha Stone, enlisted warriors, and launched war canoes in his endeavor to unify the islands.
   The Hilo chapter of the Royal Order of Kamehameha I was given the name Māmalahoa by Prince Jonah Kūhiō and while the name refers to Kamehameha’s law of protection for all people, it also refers to Kamehameha’s personal guardians. This elite unit of warriors were recognized for their skill and courage in battle, and respected for their honor and loyalty to Kamehameha. “This kaona inoa (double meaning name) was chosen by Prince Jonah Kūhiō to inspire the members of
Māmalahoato imua (move forward) and ho‘omau (persevere) in their cause as modern day warriors,” said Lani Aliʽi, Sir Pua Ishibashi. The well-being of all people was at the heart of Kamehameha’s rule and continues to be perpetuated through the work of the Royal Order of Kamehameha I.
   The Kamehameha Festival has been celebrated in Hilo since 1908 and since 1985, has taken place on Mokuola (Island of Life) in Hilo Bay. It is a day of sharing the richness of all aspects of the Hawaiian culture, including hula, mele, oli, and arts and crafts. 
   The festivities will begin at 10am with the opening ceremony taking place at noon. The Royal Order of Kamehameha I Māmalahoa is joined by other royal societies and proceeds from Lili‘uokalani Park across the foot bridge to Mokuola, to pay tribute to Kamehameha with a blessing and ho‘okupu.  The theme for this year’s celebration, which will take place on Sunday June 11, is “‘Onipa‘a” (to move forward and be steadfast), a tribute to the 100th year of the passing of Queen Lili‘uokalani.  ​
PictureRoyal Order of King Kamehameha I Moku o Kona
Kona: Kamehameha’s Ancestral Homeland and Final Dwelling Place
   Kamehameha I, whose mother Keku‘iapoiwa was the daughter of Kona Aliʽi, Kekelaokalani, established the first capital of the united Hawaiian Kingdom in Kailua-Kona. After unification, Kamehameha went to work to ensure peace and the prosperity of all people of Hawai‘i. He understood that agriculture was key to this and the field systems he worked to create serves as inspiration to farmers until today. 
   The first Kamehameha Day celebration in Kona was early in the 20th century. “I know early in the 1900s there was a celebration where they came ashore on canoes and marched down Ali‘i drive past Hulihe‘e Palace,” said Barbara Nobriga, parade committee chair.
   After that there wasn’t another Kamehameha Day celebration in Kona until 1953. Barbara was just a teenager then. “In 1953 they actually had a full on pāʽū parade. Then they didn't have another one until 1967,” said Barbara.
   At the heart of the Kona Kamehameha Day celebration is a parade with a full compliment of pāʽū riders, reflecting the paniolo spirit of the district. “If you don't have that full pāʽū section on Kamehameha Day, you do not have a parade,” said Barbara.
   The parade will begin at the Royal Kona Resort at 9am on Saturday, June 10, led by the Royal Order of Kamehameha I, Moku O Kona and followed by the Queen leading the pāʽū riders, representing the eight main Hawaiian Islands. Each group, headed by their princess, is draped in flowing satin and velvet and stunning lei displaying the color of their island.  
   The parade will also feature hula hālau, equestrian units, marching bands, a horse-drawn carriage, and more. The day will also feature a ho‘olaule‘a (celebration) at Hulihe‘e Palace after the parade, with music by top Hawaiian musicians.
   The celebration is a reflection of unity and service, virtues that Kamehameha perpetuated in the life of the islands. “What we look for in the Grand Marshall and the Queen are people who do something to give back to the community. It takes a village to raise a child and it takes a village to put this parade together. It’s a community parade and without the community behind you, you wouldn’t get it off the ground,” said Barbara.
   When we celebrate Kamehameha Day, we are rejoicing in Kamehameha’s immense efforts to create a healthy, unified Hawaiian Kingdom and perhaps reminding ourselves with gratitude of his last words, “Endless is the good I have given you to enjoy.”
​
Picture
King Kamehameha's warriors lead Kona parade. Courtesy of Charla Photography.
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To Ride the Wind: Hawaiian Sailing Canoes                                     Ke Ola Magazine May 2017

6/2/2017

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PictureAncient sailing canoe
Kahakini and his three men arrive at Kohala’s Kēōkea Beach at moonrise. He walks to the cliff top and peers out into the ocean. The moonlight sparkles on small lines of white foam marking the swell direction. Across ‘Alenuihāhā Channel, all that can be seen of Maui is a dark strip where the island meets the sea and Kahakini wonders if the channel will live up to its name, “great billows smashing.”
   Back on the shore, he helps his men finish rigging the ‘ama and ‘iako and together they step the sail, fastening the stays. Kahakini glances out to sea once more and makes a slight adjustment to the sail.
   By now family members join them and they circle the wa‘a and pule for their strength to hold. The canoe is in the water. Kahakini’s heart lifts. Paddles down and the wa‘a comes alive. The steersman points her out while Kahakini searches for signs of the wind that will sweep them in a broad reach to Hāna.
PictureMauloa, a traditional canoe built by Na Kalai Wa'a
​Old Traditions Kept Alive
   When the Hawai‘i Sailing Canoe Association (HSCA) teams depart from Kēōkea Beach Park on May 13, headed for Hāna, they will be reliving an experience that has roots back to the first Polynesians to set out on the ocean.
   Scaled down from larger voyaging canoes like Hōkūle‘a or Makali‘i, smaller single and double hulled sailing canoes—like the one in Disney’s Moana, or Palikū, built in a month for ‘Imiloa’s Canoe Festival in 2016—were central to life in Hawai‘i. Sketches and written accounts of Hawaiian canoes under sail from the late 1700s and early 1800s illustrate that paddling while under sail was also standard procedure in old Hawai‘i. The sailing canoe was perfectly designed to tackle almost any condition offered up by the island waters.
   “When I think about the traditional Hawaiian sailing canoe and you think of the coastlines and the distances between the islands, you couldn't come up with a better boat. You can sail when it’s light or when it's a little heavy. When there’s no wind you can paddle, and it drafts just a few inches. I can pull up on a beach or I can come in over a shallow reef,” said Kamakakoa canoe captain Kala‘i Miller. 
   While sailing canoes were used for practical purposes such as fishing, transport and communication, there are also historic accounts of sailing canoe races with equal billing as paddling races. Today’s sailing canoe is a hybrid that evolved by rigging an outrigger paddling canoe with a mast and sail. In the 1800s canoes used for a paddling race in the morning were rigged for sailing in the afternoon (Holmes, p. 212).
   After western contact, canoe racing including sailing canoes declined, supplanted by western vessels ill suited for Hawaiian waters. There was a short-lived resurgence of traditional water sports beginning in 1875 when King Kalākaua decreed an annual regatta to celebrate his birthday on November 16, which included sailing canoe races among several other water sports. And in the 1930s there were several small regattas exclusively for sailing canoes, sponsored by wealthy patrons.  
PictureTeams gather at Keokea to set up canoes.
The current HSCA and the start of modern interisland sailing canoe racing began in 1987, the “Year of the Hawaiian.” Newly elected Governor John Waihe‘e asked for special events to celebrate that year. Kaua‘i County created Nā Holo Kai, an annual sailing canoe race across Ka‘ie‘ie Channel from O‘ahu to Kaua‘i. 
   Then in 1994 Mike Kincaid and Nappy Napolean decided to create a sail from Hawai‘i Island to Maui, tackling ‘Alenuihāhā channel. Mike’s crew included Manny Vincent, long-time president of the Kawaihae Canoe Club.
   The start of the HSCA interisland racing series, which began in 1997, was originally on Maui, with Hawai‘i Island added in soon after. The summer-long series of races will take place at four to six week intervals and go from Hawai‘i Island to Maui, to Moloka‘i, to O‘ahu, and culminate at Waimea, Kaua‘i in August. “We think of it as stitching together the whole chain of the eight main Hawaiian Islands,” said Kalaʽi.
PictureTeam Hulakai and Captain Jun Balanga set out from Keokea
​Jun Balanga: A Lifetime on the Water
   Jun Balanga, canoe paddling and sailing coach, Ka Piko Kai sailing canoe captain and owner of Hulakai Surf and Paddle at Mauna Lani, has sailed the HSCA series for the last six years. “I grew up in Lanikai, on the water. What started me in canoe sailing was sailing, period. Before windsurfing, I sailed Hobie Cats. We grew up paddling. Paddled with Lanikai from 12 years old. Then I got into canoe sailing,” said Jun.
   His first sail was with Kala‘i Miller. “I really got hooked. We went from Kā‘anapali. We passed whales and they never even knew we were coming. We flew right by these guys. We had one breach and land right on our track behind us,” said Jun.
   The Kēōkea to Hāna race was his first. “You’re leaving Kēōkea and all we have in front of us is clouds. You watch the angle the water comes in on, follow your wind chop, the angle of your sail. You’re running that line and you got everybody in the boat believing in you. Never matter when we get there but let’s do this together. The wa’a brings people together,” said Jun.
   When he’s not racing interisland, he’s coaching. “What we do here is I set up and sail a lot of four-man. That’s the beginning. We get the feeling of the shoreline. Then I’ll take them to rougher water and wicked winds. The year before I took six young women, all moms, on the Kēōkea race. I wanted them to experience what I felt and how it can change your life,” said Jun.
PictureAssembling and lashing canoe.
​Preparation for the Voyage
   On the shore at Kēōkea, crews will rig the canoes. “It’s all in pieces. You rig the canoe together like you would a traditional six man. You put the ama (outrigger float) and the ‘iako (outrigger boom) together, put the covers on and step the mast,” said Olukai canoe captain Marvin Otsuji.
   The set of the sail will be determined by wind, swell direction and intensity. Setting the sail takes knowledge of the conditions and the ability to see what lies ahead. “The way you set the sail on shore, it’s got to run that way all the way to the end. You can do one slight adjustment maybe, but you’re stuck with what you decided, it’s your future,” said Jun.
   The sailing canoes do well with a broad reach and for the Kēōkea to Hāna race, the idea is to gauge the course to approach at a point east rather than west of Hāna. “If you come in too early, the whole crew going to be paddling for miles. Really rough. The boat is all over the place, the sail is just flapping,” said Jun.
PictureOlukai, Marvin Otsuji captain, rides the channel.
​Balancing on the Windline
   Canoe sailing is all about the balance between, “the resistance of my steering and the effort of my sail,” said Jun. Which means that how the sail is set and how the canoe is pointed are key to making the most of the wind and waves. “When it gets super windy, the teams that do well are the ones that learn how to spill the wind, not capture it. You have to learn how to monitor it. Being able to find the sail trim that allows you to go forward and spill it efficiently so you’re not wearing the steersman out,” said Marvin.
   Each leg presents different conditions that need to be adjusted for. For the Kēōkea to Hāna run, “We stand the sail up a little more and move it towards the center line of the boat. What that does is create a pocket in the sail to store wind,” said Marvin.
   Canoe sailing combines paddling, surfing and sailing into one, demanding a complex set of skills with the most successful teams made up of crew that are both paddlers and sailors. The winning canoe is the one that can take advantage of wind, swell and paddle power.
   “Our main goal is to catch waves. You still have to have the paddle part to get you into the waves and there’s points where the wind dies and the angle changes a bit. You have to have really solid paddlers. But you need both a sailing crew and a paddling crew and you have to learn how to manage that,” said Marvin.
   “Captains need to know how to move the crew to respond to the demands changing conditions. If two guys steering, we on fire. No eating, no drinking. You better have hydrated last night. Two would be paddling, two in the tramp, two steering and one will run the bailing. Number four still got to help run some backstays. You have to be synchronized and move together,” said Jun.
​Capturing the Experience
   When the canoes depart from Kēōkea, Hawai‘i Island photographer Gloria Reed will be offshore in an escort boat. Gloria started as the HSCA’s photographer twenty years ago while working as a full time nurse. “I was shooting for Pacific Paddler, and a friend of mine, Thomas Kemper, was building a three man and wanted me to take some professional shots,” said Gloria.
   When Gloria was invited to come along on an interisland race she was hooked. “It isn’t about money or prestige. It’s my passion. I feel honored to be part of a really special ‘ohana,” said Gloria.
   Photographing canoe races is like riding a roller coaster. “There’s big swells, really rough and I have to brace myself in and pay attention to what I’m doing. There are moments out there that I’ve been scared,” said Gloria.
   Or like doing survivalist training. “You’re cold and you’re so tired and still waiting for the last canoe to come in. Every canoe gets a photo, whether they come in first, second or last,” said Gloria.
   Wind, swell, current in the Hawaiian channels creates the constant potential for a canoe to huli (flip). Then Gloria’s job changes as swiftly as the winds. “I put my camera away and I’ve literally jumped into the water to help,” said Gloria.
   And at times it means missing out on a shoot entirely. “At the Nā Holo Kai race last year, Olukai flipped right off Ka‘ena Point,” said Gloria. “I had to go back to Hale‘iwa with the crew and the canoe. It was really sad for me because Nā Holo Kai goes to my home island,” said Gloria.
   Although the equipment for today’s sailing canoes is updated with modern materials, the dance with the ever-changing ocean and winds are the same. “When you approach the shore, what you see, your mind goes out to how it used to be when the Polynesians approached a new place. I want to give everyone the opportunity and one chance to do something that brings the past back. That’s an honor and it’s huge,” said Jun.
Picture
Gloria with team captains at the airport.
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