Events
Sustainability Fair (4/22/2022)
In Hawaiian Voyaging Club, our first and foremost mission is to provide to the Punahou Community with a hands-on experience for those who share the enthusiasm learning the history and culture behind voyaging, navigation, and sailing out in the open ocean with us. One of our main goals is to teach upcoming generations within our communities to build upon and honor the voyaging legacy of our ancestors. Throughout their time at Punahou, we seek to teach the many life skills learned in the voyaging process, create lifelong memories, and build new connections between each other. We hope in the many years to come, our club will associate with other organizations amongst the islands, and grow to a wide community of many peoples.
Since the founding of the Polynesian Voyaging Society in 1973 and the historic Hōkūle‘a voyage to Tahiti in 1976, the Punahou community has been active in revitalizing Polynesian voyaging. Today, Punahou continues to embrace this endeavor with the launch of our new voyaging program and very own wa‘a kaulua, Kamaola. During January’s Teacher Talk, we invite you to learn more about the story of Kamaola and find out what is next for the canoe and its crew.
CAPTAINʻS LOG - Kaniela Lyman-Mersereau
Māhina Kulu
Makani: ʻAina Koʻolau. Light 5-12kts
Nalu: Hema, 1-2 foot ground swell, 1 foot east wind swell.
ʻAnilā: He lā maikaʻi. Slightly cloudy, mostly clear. Ao puaʻa on the Koʻolau mountains.
Nerves of the day. The first day to kau ka peʻa after the weekend before (10/16) where we struggled to attach the sail correctly. Holes in the wrong place for the tack. They needed to be on the spar, not the boom, to avoid ripping the sail. Corrections were made 10/21: Moved Sheetline and doughnuts up the boom. Made puka in spar for tack. Moved lower halyards and pepeiao up on Kia. Spun knot around on top shrouds to avoid chafing on halyards. Raised mast as napoʻo ʻana o ka lā.
Winds were light as crew showed up on 10/22. We loaded Kamaola, tied the peʻa onto the paepae and ʻōpeʻa then raised the rig. She looked ready as we opened the sail on land next to older sister, Hikianalia. E pule kākou then we go. Couple strokes out into Kāpalama basin and kau ka peʻa! Kani ka pū we heard from the land, Mark Ellis replied with the Kani ka Pū from the sea. We were sailing. Kamaola was sailing! Thousands of years piled gently on our shoulders and this humble little waʻa from ka Punahou. Out the channel we went with Moani steering. Smooth and steady we made it to the head buoy then pointed up to feel out the bump and stretch out our kaula kia. She handled it well. The steering capabilities were better than expected with Moaniʻs hoe and the hoe we made on campus. She also pointed upwind better than we thought. The lashings, the deck boards, the heiau sung softly to us, but did not struggle. She seemed happy to be free from the dock and trailer. Hoʻailona all around: naiʻa, manu iwa, manu ʻā, manu o kū, ʻanuenue. She wanted to go, but her crew and kaula were not ready yet. After bouncing around in the sea for a moment we tacked but she wanted to keep going so we tried again. The angle of swell and wind makes tacking without paddling difficult. Need more speed. Maybe easier with a jib. We tried again and came about with ease. The wind was a favorable angle for tacking up the channel so we sailed all the way back in then played around in the calm waters of the basin. Again, she pointed better than we thought with those gigantic sticks. Nice to know you can always paddle away from trouble with a strong crew as well. You must be careful though not to over sheet. She slides fast when she loses speed and the sail is too tight. We slowly made our way back to the floating dock with ease, closed up sail, pule, pau. No water in the hulls, no damage to the rig, crew healthy and strong. Kaula kia will need tightening ʻapōpō. E ola!
Inaugural Crew:
Kaniela Lyman-Mersereau, Captain, Punahou
Moani Heimuli, Waʻa Builder and Consultant to Kamaola
Dillyn Lietzke, Punahou Alum and Kamaola Mama
Kaʻaiʻōhelo McAfee-Torco, Punahou K-1 Kumu 'ōlelo Hawai'i
Taryn Loveman, Punahou, DTE Co-Department Head
David Strang, Punahou, Academy Science
Wyeth Collo, Punahou, Academy Science
Ed Kinnear, Punahou, DTE Co-Department Head
Calvin Lac, Punahou, DTE
Mark Ellis, Volunteer, Kamehameha Schools
Escort Boat:
Keala Kimura, Honolulu Community College
Paul Reppun, Punahou Alum
Charlie Reppun, Punahou Alum
Ke'alohi Reppun, Punahou, Kuaihelani Center for 'Ike Hawai'i
Matariki Tuki, Volunteer
Mai Kapunahou, Mānoa a Mokauea, Kalihi (8/12/2021)
"Courage can be quiet" - Kaweloku Wong, 2021
In the early morning of August 12, 2021, Kamaola left Kapunahou for Mokauea. The afternoon prior, a large group of Water Polo Team volunteers carefully lifted her off the ground and placed her on our new trailer. Voyaging Club students cleaned her up and secured her for the slow, steady and blissfully uneventful transit to Honolulu Community College - Marine Education & Training Center. (METC)
Escorted by the Honolulu Police Department, Kamaola peeked her hulls out the Main Gate at Punahou/Wilder and proceeded across the intersection towards the widest-of-all-turns onto Beretania Street. At 2am, there was only one car passing the small four-car convoy the entire time. The next turn was at Punchbowl Street and the wa'a kaulua turned towards the kai. Blinking car flashers spoke only to the traffic signals and light poles as we made the next turn onto Ala Moana Boulevard.
Halfway there and this stretch of street seemed to go on forever. Still no cars accompanied us, as we head Ewa-bound towards Sand Island Access Road. A wide, left turn sets us on the final stretch towards METC and I catch myself almost exhaling...wait...not yet. Captain Bob Perkins meets the us at the main gate and our commotion stirs up the nearby residents but not the black dog napping in the middle of the road, who doesn't even acknowledge our presence, as we drive by.
Kamaola enters her temporary home and is strategically steered into into a space on the ma kai side of METC. Twenty-five minutes and 7.2 miles later, the four-year breath is finally exhaled as this phase of work is complete. Next steps are to get her unpacked, ready to splash down in the ocean and test her seaworthiness. I Ola Kanaloa!
The Punahou community has been actively involved in revitalizing Polynesian voyaging. Five alumni and a teacher sailed aboard Hōkūle‘a on her historic voyage to and from Tahiti in 1976. Numerous students, faculty, alumni and family members continue that tradition today, crewing on canoes across the Pacific. The School continues to embrace this legacy in a tangible way, with a new voyaging program and its own wa‘a.
The latest endeavor, Kamaola, started with a challenge. Four summers ago, Dillyn Lietzke ’20 was volunteering aboard Nāmāhoe, a canoe on Kaua‘i. A crew member told her, “You should build a wa‘a kaulua for Punahou.” Lietzke laughed, but the friend continued. No school had its own wa‘a kaulua, he said. Punahou could be the pioneer. “He addressed the canoe as if she had already been built – as if she physically existed,” Lietzke says. “In his mind, she was already sailing.”
Blessed and named double-hulled canoe (12/28/2020)
On Monday, December 28, a small group gathered for the formal blessing of Punahou's first wa'a kaulua. Inspired by previous generations and influenced by the Malama Honua: Worldwide Voyage (2013-2019), this double-hulled canoe was envisioned and led by Dillyn Lietzke '20 over a three year time period.
Building began in Summer 2019 and continued throughout the year, even with the March 2020 closing of campus and a move to distance learning. Faculty and Wa'a captain, Kaniela Lyman-Mersereau set-up a small make shift shop in his garage to ensure that construction of parts continued and provided frequent updates.
Punahou Chaplain George Scott blessed the wa'a along with Kumu Kimo Keaulana who also named the wa'a and debuted a pule wa'a written by reknown scholar and former Punahou Faculty in the 1940's, Mrs. Mary Kawena Pukui. Participants had an opportunity to present lei and exchange time with the wa'a. At the end of the ceremony, a special, individually packed meal was distributed to be eaten off-campus to signify the unity of our group and closing of the ceremony.
I Ola e Kamaola!
Meaning behind the name, "Kamaola" (4/30/2020)
April 30, 2020
"Kamaola" literally means "Living-child." This waʻa is a child that was brought into the world as all beloved children are. Every part of this waʻa will function with all its parts as all children do. The African proverb, "It takes a village to raise a child" certainly applies to this child, this waʻa. It took, and will still take, a community to bring life, "ola," to this child.
The term, "kama," is not only an adolescent but it means to include everyone who is a part of a community. We know the word "kamaʻāina" meaning to be a "child-of-the-land." A "child" is anyone and everyone who belongs to a place as our waʻa belongs to us. The waʻa will ola, live and thrive, in all circumstances whether on land or on the sea.
Our waʻa is spoken of as a "she" which is interesting. People who are familiar with the domain of the major Hawaiian Akua know that Kanaloa is the Akua of the ocean. However, when it comes to the waves and the billows, it is Hina, a female, who is in control. Hina has a special place for the care of the wahine that she is in charge of.
"Kamaola" also tells us that generations of kama, children, will ola, thrive, in the care and experiences of all that this waʻa has to offer. Kamaola is a physical existence in a spiritual plane.
This is what Kamaola means. It is a name that bestows life to this waʻa from the moment it was brought to life and for all the days of her life. It is a good name.
Naʻu na,
Kumu Kimo Keaulana
Given and blessed on December 28, 2020