LAHAINA, Maui (AP) — Like a mother and very comfortable and consistent is how Wailuku resident and apprentice navigator Kala Baybayan describes the Hikianalia, a 72-foot voyaging canoe that blends traditional Polynesian sailing as its navigators use the stars, sun
LAHAINA, Maui (AP) — Like a mother and very comfortable and consistent is how Wailuku resident and apprentice navigator Kala Baybayan describes the Hikianalia, a 72-foot voyaging canoe that blends traditional Polynesian sailing as its navigators use the stars, sun and wind to guide them with modern technology with its solar-powered electric engines.
“I like everything about her,” said Baybayan, who has gone on numerous trips with the Hikianalia, the sister canoe to the legendary Hokule‘a.
“I feel very comfortable on her,” said the 32-year-old daughter of master navigator Chad Kalepa Baybayan.
The younger Baybayan spent her early years at Kamehameha III Elementary School, moved away and now has returned.
“It’s a very inviting feel about her,” Kala Baybayan said of Hikianalia, and she should know. She has sailed numerous times around the Hawaiian Islands on the Hikianalia and, in 2014, sailed from Hawaii to Tahiti as the canoe accompanied the Hokule‘a as it embarked on its three-year malama honua (“Care for Our Earth”) worldwide voyage.
On a Saturday in early January, the Hokule‘a was in the South Atlantic Ocean off the coast of the British territory of St. Helena. But the Hikianalia is on a statewide voyage that began last year on the North Shore of Oahu. The canoe is mooring off Lahaina Harbor as future crew members train and do educational and community outreach. The Hikianalia will remain off Lahaina until around Jan. 24 before heading to Molokai.
While Hokule‘a was in the South Atlantic Ocean, members of the Polynesian Voyaging Society, which the canoes belong to, along with environmental organizations and Maui’s own Hui O Wa‘a Kaulua (Assembly of the Double-Hulled Canoes), which has its own voyaging canoe, Mo‘okiha o Pi‘ilani, held a community outreach event at Kamehameha Iki Park in Lahaina.
Many Maui County residents have sailed on the Hikianalia and this is not the canoe’s first visit to Maui. But the worldwide voyage has thrown a spotlight on Hikianalia, which at times travels as Hokule‘a’s escort vessel. For this trip to Maui, the canoe was brought to Lahaina from Oahu on Jan. 3 under the watch of 1976 Hokule‘a crew member and Maui resident Snake Ah Hee.
Each of Hikianalia’s hulls contains an electric motor powered by onboard photovoltaic panels that convert sunlight to electric propulsive energy. With a zero carbon footprint, the design supports the malama honua intent of the worldwide voyage.
The motors are not used all the time and may be used while docking or crossing channels, said Miki Tomita, director of the Learning Center at the Polynesian Voyaging Society. Tomita is a former Maui resident who also spent time on the Hikianalia.
