Grassroots Kaua'i: manufacturing an outrigger canoe

A handmade koa canoe, believed to be the first constructed on Kaua'i in nearly two centuries, has set sail after a fervent four months of labor by a group of native Hawaiians and some expert canoe builders from Ifilik, an atoll in Micronesia.

The idea came from Santos Wichimai of Anahola, an expert canoe builder who missed his home island of Ifilik and wanted to share its culture with Kauaians.

Three men from the Micronesian atoll came to Kaua'i to work on the project, and once a full group was assembled, they passed up power tools, constructing handmade adzes to remove the bark and gouge away at the wood. Following ancient Polynesian practice, they used their fingers, hands, arms, feet and legs for measurement. String made from coconut husks helped hold the craft together.

And after months of six-days-a-week work, the job was done, and the 16-foot-long outrigger canoe was launched at Hanalei Bay.

It's the first handmade koa canoe built here since the death of King Kaumuali'i in 1824 and thanks to Rachel Pa we had the honor to take a ride with it.

The canoe being built in this short documentary is the second one and it won't be the last...


To get more background information or if you want to support the Grassroots project on Kaua'i please write an e-mail to

hawaiian@eyelense.com


Mahalo for the support with their music to Sudden Rush from Hilo

http://www.myspace.com/realrush


Peace and greetings to Robert Pa and his family, to Peter, Malia and everybody who's with them from Elke, Kai, Phillip, Sebastian and Thomas

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• grassroots
• grass
• roots
• kauai
• robert
• pa
• santos
• wichimai
• hanalei
• hawaii
• hawaiian
• polynesian
• sudden
• rush
• knom
• seng
• knomsen

[mdivinc]

speedyboh your a white redneck stop the lieing and move on in your double wide!

[speedyboh]

yo mdivinc, as you don't know who i am or where i'm from you should watch your words! instead of spreading offensive bullshit you could just tell me what you think i'm lying about!!

ah... and go back to elementary school to refresh your spelling skills before you attempt to communicate with me the next time!

[AmericanConstitution]

There sure is a whole bunch of racism going on the comments list, better recognise.

[speedyboh]

YES!! please stop racist comments!! it's very poor what happened to the polynesian people on the hawaiian islands and what is still going on there but there's no need to hate all americans or white men... hawaii is just one place in the world where really bad things happened...

i'm german so i know what i'm talking about... let history be history! don't blame people for the mistakes of former generations! STOP THE HATE!! don't do the same mistakes like all the fuckers in world did and still do!

[chaska773]

mahalo nui loa! great video. May all indigenous people and all cultures be inspired and supported to re-inact the native knowledge that served humanity for thousands of years. Think if the Millions spent on da stupid ferry were invested into resuccitating the ahupua'a system. blessed love.

[GuamKomudo]

I kinda feel what he is saying... I'm Micronesian, in my people's island of Guam, before Spain took it over, there was not only no money in Guam, but there was not even a concept of ownership... No one even owned anything, THAT WAS NOT EVEN A CONCEPT! I do not hate white people, I am half white. I am glad the Spanish showed us Jesus. I am Roman Catholic like 85% of Chamorru people. But there's so much curroption in white culture and the concept of "mine"

[mikecq]

As someone who has done outrigger race for the Hanalei Canoe club, I say great job. Keep up the tradition. As someone who has raced in a Koa canoe, this is inspiring.

[nvccpuller]

Aloha from a Canada native. we too are in a recuperating period. but I will not talk of the bad times. I love your canoe. we build canoe here too. My little girl was 5 when she asked me did any indians get there land back and after I contemplated I said Hawaii , and she said we should go and ask them how the did it. so she will be over that way when she get's big.

[onite8888]

@speedyboh

there are some canoe festivities going on in Yap, you can ask santos about it, he might have some videos about it.

[malandrazi]

@malandrazi could we see some aloha in here please?

[malandrazi]

@Nero49er my point is accountability, Fuck the racism I won't give in to even hear it.

[Nero49er]

@Malandro9999 Lili'uokalani did set forth legislation that put foreighn and American interests in peril but so what?the chinese are fucking us in our ass ,Russia becomes less of an ally everyday,Japan wants us out of Okinawa,should we overthrow those governments because they act on their wishes instead of ours? No. BTW the only people who put hawaiis peace in danger were "the Honolulu rifles" 400 white businessmen who were armed and ready to fight for their stake in Hawaiis economy.

[Nero49er]

@Malandro9999 lili'uokalani relented to a superpower,you think she had a choice? oh wait,she did have a choice, give Hawaii over peacefully or go to war and lose Hawaii violently. So you see,she didnt "sell out" her people like Metallica selling out on metal(what a comparison huh?)she evaluated the entire situation and acted accordingly and she did it with a very heavy heart. I mean,she spent the better part of her life thereafter imprisoned,how is that selling out?

[aliiaimoku]

I wish i could've been a part of something like this... Looks like fun... Thanks for the video

[stopdropburn90]

this guy going off about the white people and money and greed is a haole himself. however all his points are spot on