Instead of swimming out to meet her we took a water taxi. Once aboard, all of the students from Halau Kū Mana, Kamehameha, and Castle chanted Ia Waʻa Nui. Kumu Noe explained to us that our task for the day was to move the lowered boom to the catwalk and re-raise the spar because they want to change out the sails before the next crew heads towards Rapa Nui. For many of the legs of the Worldwide Voyage Hōkūleʻa sailed with a crab claw shaped sail, but unlike many other sailing vessels she is able to sail with a regular triangle sail too. Noe's reasoning for changing the sails was that it is generally easier to sail with a triangle sail.
Towards the end of our time on the waʻa I asked Uncle Nainoa about if and when we may have a traditional double-hull voyaging canoe made out of 100% native Hawaiian resources. We have Hawaiʻiloa, but her hulls are made from spruce trees harvested in Alaska and synthetic cordage are used in place of olonā because resources just weren't available. I brought up the fact that in the past ten years KS has organized a number of opportunities for students and faculty members to go and plant koa seedlings up at Keawewai on Hawaiʻi Island. Uncle Nainoa informed me that the person who actually initiated this koa planting innitiative was his dad, Myron "Pinky" Thompson, when he was a trustee for Kamehameha Schools Bishop Estate.
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