Hikianalia on track to arrive in San Francisco on Sunday
COURTESY POLYNESIAN VOYAGING SOCIETY
The Hikianalia set sail from Hawaii for California on Aug. 18 and is on track to arrive for a welcoming ceremony in San Francisco’s Aquatic Park Cove on Sunday.
The Hikianalia, the Hokule‘a’s sister canoe, is on track to sail into San Francisco Bay for an arrival ceremony at Aquatic Park Cove at noon Sunday.
She is expected to sail under the Golden Gate Bridge and cross the bay Sunday morning, escorted by local canoe clubs, before arriving at Aquatic Park at noon, according to the Polynesian Voyaging Society.
In keeping with traditional voyaging protocol, the canoe will be welcomed first and granted permission to enter the cove by the Muwekma Ohlone tribe, the hosts of this region. After an exchange of chants and ceremonial welcome rituals, there will be remarks by dignitaries, local officials, community members and Hikianalia captain Lehua Kamalu.
Local hula groups, including the Academy of Hawaiian Arts of Oakland under the direction of kumu hula Mark Keali‘i Ho‘omalu, will perform, as well as various local Native American tribes. The arrival ceremony is open to the public.
The Hikianalia and her crew members departed Hawaii on Aug. 18 for the approximately 2,800-mile journey from Hawaii to California using traditional, non-instrument navigation. It is the first stop of their Alahula Kai o Maleka Hikianalia California Voyage, which was timed to coincide with the Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco.
The solar and wind-powered Hikianalia reached the halfway point between Hawaii and California by the end of August and had to go about 1,500 miles north of the Hawaiian Islands to get around a high-pressure system that sits northeast of the Hawaiian isles in the summer.
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“This year has been particularly challenging as the high has moved around quite a bit causing sometimes winds where we didn’t expect them to be, or areas that are calm where we originally thought there would be wind,” Kamalu said in a news release.
On Saturday evening, the Hawaii Chamber of Commerce of Northern California is also presenting “An Afternoon with Wayfinder and Master Navigator Nainoa Thompson” at the Samuel Johnson, Jr. Performing Arts Center in San Bruno.
The Hikianalia will also be open for dockside canoe tours at Hyde Street Pier.
After a four-day stop in San Francisco, the canoe will sail to Half Moon Bay and make its way down to San Diego, Calif. Updates are available at hokulea.com.
