World tour

Photo Gallery: Hokulea

With well wishes from Gov. Neil Abercrombie and others, the double-hulled sailing canoe Hokule‘a on Wednesday began a nearly yearlong shakedown cruise through the Hawaiian Islands before embarking next May on a deep-sea global journey, "Malama Honua Worldwide Voyage."

Crews of the Hokule‘a and its escort vessel Hikianalia left from the University of Hawaii Marine Education Training Center on Sand Island en route to Hilo. They hope to build connections with Hawaii communities by encouraging a culture of peace and solutions to environmental problems.

"This is a good undertaking, and you take all our hearts with you," Abercrombie said.

A public hoolaulea in Hilo takes place from noon to 6 p.m. June 9 at Radio Bay in Keaukaha.

Abercrombie recalled that many people thought crew members of the Hokule‘a were "crazy" in 1975 for planning a historic Hawaii-Tahiti voyage. But he said the voyage was successful because it carried fundamental values of Hawaii, such as love and caring for the land and people, and he believes the worldwide voyage will be successful for the same reasons.

More than 400 crew members have been training for the 47,000-mile voyage to 28 countries. And about 22 teachers in Hawaii schools are steering a new course in education, participating in an A‘o Hawaii grant that develops curriculum integrating traditional sailing with mathematics, science and culture.

"For me, the objective is to develop students who are creative and critical thinkers," said Patricia Halagao, a University of Hawaii associate professor. "Ultimately, our north star is revolutionizing education."

During the voyage, scheduled to end in June 2017, more than 100,000 students are expected to be connected online to the website Hokulea.org.

"It’s just opening up so many doors," said Mary Anna Waldrop, a language and literature teacher at Sacred Hearts School in Lahaina. "I think the doors are going to open in ways we can’t even imagine now."

Waldrop, who sailed with her husband on a 30-foot sailboat in the Pacific for seven years before starting her teaching career, said the worldwide voyage will offer students a look at basic life lessons, including perseverance.

"I’ve been through gales, and I know it’s going to get better," Waldrop said. "You live through it. The sun comes up."

The first year of travel will be in the Hawaiian Islands, where Hokule‘a officials hope to train wayfinders to steer the canoe around the world and prepare for visits to respective countries.

Before leaving for the South Pacific from Hilo in May 2014, the voyage starts with visits to Hawaii communities, including several voyaging groups on Maui, Hawaii island and Kauai, where double-hulled sailing has established itself since the historic first voyage of the Hokule‘a to Tahiti in 1976.

The Hokule‘a crew found Tahiti on its epic voyage through Pacific wayfinding, using the stars, winds, waves and birds as navigational signs. The Hawaii-Tahiti voyage supported the assertion that Polynesians were capable of navigating in the open ocean centuries before westerners, who relied upon the invention of the chronometer in the mid-1700s.

The voyage has sparked pride among Pacific islanders and a renaissance in double-hull canoe voyaging and native culture.

WORLDWIDE MESSAGE

Officials with the Polynesian Voyaging Society said they hope the worldwide voyage will serve as a catalyst for promoting education beyond the classroom and the Hawaiian holistic concept of "malama honua" or "taking care of island earth."

"We need to learn how to take care" of the planet, Polynesian Voyaging Society President Nainoa Thompson said. "It’s our home, but more importantly, it’s our children’s home. … The voyage of Hokule‘a is about exploration, discovery … and a coming together of the diverse many so we can learn together to work toward responsible living on this island earth and then teach it to our children for their future."

Known as the endangered species capital of the world by some environmentalists, Hawaii has been a major focus of programs in the United States to protect and restore native habitat. These include the $400 million project to restore the military target island of Kahoolawe and the preservation of 137,797-square-mile Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, the largest marine conservation area in the nation.

Before Papahanau­mokuakea’s designation in 2006, crews of the Hokule‘a and Hokualakai conducted two voyages to the northwestern Hawaiian islands to train native wayfinders and educate the public about the pristine environment.

Solar- and wind-powered, Hikinalia will be serving as the worldwide voyage platform for the study of marine science, educational outreach and communications.

Members aboard Hikinalia, a double-hulled sailing canoe donated by Okeanos Foundation founder Dieter Paulmann, will be involved in measuring and logging the condition of the ocean, including water and air temperatures, contributing to information about global warming.

"I’m super-excited," said Haunani Kane, the science coordinator for the voyage and a University of Hawaii master’s candidate in geology. "I think this is a great opportunity for the university to get involved in the community … It’s reaching a new audience."

Kane said voyagers are also planning to collect samples from fish caught during the sail, install an underwater microphone to listen to marine animals and boats, and grow watercress and other greens through hydroponics.

Naalehu Anthony, the crew member in charge of communications during the voyage, said the crew plans to share scientific information in the hope it will start a conversation with people of other countries.

"We think this will have a snowball effect," he said.