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Building Hokule`a
[Sources: Ben Finney's
"Voyaging into Polynesia's Past" in From Sea to Space,
Palmerston North, New Zealand: Massey Press 1992 and Voyage of
Rediscovery, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994;
Notes from Herb Kawainui Kane on the early history of Hokule'a;
also, David Lewis` The Voyaging Stars: Secrets of the Pacific
Island Navigators, New York: W.W. Norton, 1978.]
Hokule`a was completed
in 1975. It has two 62-foot hulls; eight `iako, or crossbeams,
joining the two hulls; pola, or decking, lashing to the crossbeams
between the two hulls; rails along the decking; and two masts.
Herb Kawainui Kane,
who came up with the conceptual design for the canoe, notes, with
Kenneth Emory. [Click here for details on how Hokule'a was designed:
"In Search of the Ancient Polynesian Voyaging Canoe"]
How the Canoe was
Named: "This happened when the parts of the canoe were close to
being completed. One day when I visited the building site, a large
shed at Young Bros., one of the guys had chalked 'Da Boat' on the
side of one of the hulls. When I asked the reason for the graffiti,
they said it was to remind me that it was time to come up with a
name.
"According to Kenneth
Emory, in the old days a name would come to a canoe designer in a
dream. Be that as it may, we tossed the question around at the board
meeting a few days later. Several names were suggested, mostly
compound names, each including several words; none seemed to be what
everyone was looking for. Several weeks went by.
"One exceptionally
clear night I stayed up quite late, star chart in hand, locating and
memorizing stars and their relative positions. I think I turned in
around midnight. Some time later, I dreamed of stars. My attention
was attracted to Arcturus, our Hokule'a. It appeared to grow larger
and brighter, so brilliant that I awoke.
"It's been a habit for
many years to keep a pad and pen on my nightstand. When the body is
at rest, the mind half-awake, thoughts range about freely, and ideas
form which I've found are sometimes worth noting down. Some painting
ideas have come to me that way. I turned on my reading light and
wrote 'Hokule'a.'
"The next morning, I
saw the notation, and immediately recognized it as a fitting name
for the canoe. As a zenith star for Hawai'i it would be a star of
gladness if it led to landfall. I phoned Paige Kawelo Barber; she
thought it appropriate. I tried it on a few others and got a
positive response. The name was proposed at the next board meeting
and adopted." (e-mail from Herb, 2/20/99).
Hokule`a was launched
on March 8, 1975 at Kualoa on the windward side of O`ahu. Ka`upena
Wong organized the religious ceremonies for the launching, with
Kalena Silva and Keli`i Tau`a assisting in the rituals. Kahu Kaupu
gave the Christian blessing. Hokule`a made its first voyage to and
from Tahiti in 1976.
The 8-ton Hokule`a can
be loaded with about 11,000 pounds, or 5.5 tons, including the
weight of a crew of 12-16 people and equipment and supplies. It can
make up to 10-12 knots sailing on a reach in strong winds.
Since Hawaiians had
ceased long-distance, open-ocean voyaging eight centuries ago in the
12th century, no examples of actual ancient voyaging canoes were
available as models for Hokule`a. Hawaiian artist Herb Kane based
the design of Hokule`a on drawings of canoes made by artists and
draftsmen employed by Captain Cook and other early explorers of the
Pacific.
How close to an
ancient voyaging canoe is Hokule`a? Hokule`a is considerably smaller
than the 100-foot plus Polynesian canoes seen by early European
visitors. Also, while the design of the hulls and upper parts of the
canoe was based on what is known of the traditional Polynesian
canoe, the design of the sail-rig departed from traditional
precedents. The traditional Polynesian sprit sail was typically
laced to two spars, one of which acted as the mast and the other as
the boom. The rig Hokule`a consists of a sail attached to spar and
boom plus a shorter mast on which the spar, boom and sail are raised
and lowered. Hokule`a's rig, with the mast first raised and stayed,
was used to facilitate the raising and lowering of the sail.
Although the Polynesian Voyaging Society (PVS) wanted to use
traditional materials (koa wood hulls, lauhala sails, sennit
lashing) and traditional tools (adzes, bone gouges, coral files, and
sharkskin for sanding) in building the canoe, the construction would
have been too time-consuming as the builders tried to relearn the
arts of working with such materials and tools. Instead, the hulls
were constructed out of plywood, fiberglass, and resin, and the
sails were made from canvas; the lashings were done with synthetic
cordage. (For the story of the recent effort to build a canoe out of
traditional native materials, see
"The Building of Hawai'iloa").
Because of the use of
modern materials, sailing the canoe could not tell PVS about the
strength and durability of traditional canoes. However, the builders
strove to approximate the shape and weight of a traditional canoe,
avoiding such innovations as wider stance for the hulls for greater
stability and a deeper keel for improved sailing capability; so the
canoe was a "performance accurate" replica, handling much like the
voyaging canoes that once sailed in Polynesian seas. |
