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| Outrigger Revival |
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| Written by Jeff Moag |
| Saturday, 31 December 2005 16:00 |
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Over the last six years, members of the Hawaiian Outrigger Canoe Voyaging Society have used a series of inter-island canoe journeys to help revive one of the world’s great seafaring traditions. In August, a crew of 16 paddlers completed their most audacious voyage yet, paddling 193 miles from Nihoa to Mokumanamana in the Northwest Hawaiian Islands, an uninhabited string of islets that extends from Kauai 1,000 miles into the North Pacific. After a traditional blessing, the crew paddled a modified six-man outrigger west by northwest into the setting sun. With the Marimed Foundation’s three-masted schooner Makani Olu providing support, the crew paddled an hour-on, hour-off schedule, reaching Mokumanamana just after midnight August 21, after 32 hours of paddling. “The entire run was downstream and down-swell, under a full spotlight moon that made the water absolutely beautiful,” says paddler Matt Muirhead, a Kauai native now living in Santa Cruz, Calif. The boat felt awkward at first, thanks to darkness and an irregular cross-swell, but the crew soon jelled with each other and the ocean. “Suddenly everything felt right,” Muirhead says. “Hawaiians have always connected on long voyages with themselves and with their canoes.” The crew had originally planned to continue another 137 miles to French Frigate Shoals, but opted to stop at Mokumanamana, also known as Necker Island, because the support ship was low on diesel and fresh water. With crossings from the big island to Mokumanamana already in the books, crew members plan two more voyages, ending at Kure Atoll in 2007. Though the Northwest Hawaiian Islands now form an uninhabited nature reserve, ancient Polynesian seafarers visited them for centuries, leaving numerous heiaus, or temples, on Mokumanamana and other islands. These modern journeys help crew members connect with this rich heritage. All but one of the voyagers grew up on the islands, and about half are of Hawaiian ancestry, including three men and two women under 25 whose participation was sponsored. “We want the younger generation to get these skills and pass them on,” Muirhead says. —jm Originally Published, Paddler January-February 2006 |
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