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Hawaii News

Hokule‘a up for adventurer award

COURTESY POLYNESIAN VOYAGING SOCIETY

A “Polynesian Voyagers” exhibit is running at the Mariners’ Museum in Newport News, Va., as the Hokule‘a is serviced in dry dock there. The Hokule‘a crew is also in the running for National Geographic’s “People’s Choice Adventurer of the Year.”

As the Hawaiian sailing canoe Hokule‘a undergoes dry-dock repairs in Virginia, its crews have been nominated by National Geographic for the international magazine’s annual “People’s Choice Adventurer of the Year” contest.

Hokule‘a will compete against nine other nominees. Together, they’ve already been selected as National Geographic’s “10 most inspiring adventurers of the year,” according to the magazine’s website. The Oahu-based traditional replica canoe and its crews, which rotate every month or so, have been sailing around the world since 2014 on its four-year Malama Honua (“Care for the Earth”) voyage.

Visitors to the National Geographic website can vote daily for one nominee through Dec. 16.

Other 2017 nominees include 15-year-old rock- climbing prodigy Ashima Shiraishi, Polish cave diver and explorer Krzysztof Starnawski and French extreme paraglider Antoine Girard.

“Our home inspires wild ideas, brought forth by the audacity of belief,” a video introducing the Hokule‘a team and the other nominees on the website states. The contest reflects the “embodiment of the human spirit,” the National Geographic video further says.

To check out all the nominees and vote, visit: nationalgeographic.com/adventure/adventurers- of-the-year.

Meanwhile, Hokule‘a is the focus of an exhibit at the Mariners’ Museum in Newport News, Va.

The exhibit, “Polynesian Voyagers,” was designed to highlight the story of settlement in the Pacific Islands and celebrate the Malama Honua voyage.

It will remain open until June 11.

This week, Hokule‘a will be transported back to the open ocean to begin its next leg of the journey, to Miami.

One response to “Hokule‘a up for adventurer award”

  1. Mythman says:

    Put some more fiberglass patches on the hull and fix some of the electronic gear wiring…

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