Canoe | Page 3 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

October 27, 2016 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

‘Toots’

His father was Albert Edward Minvielle who “served in Porto Rico, before coming to Hawai‘i, as a sanitary officer under the United States officials and carries high recommendations from these and other employers.”

The father later worked for the Honolulu Police Department as an interpreter. He later “has been twice already to Porto Rico for laborers for Hawaii and it was through him that the first Porto Ricans were brought to the (Islands.)” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, December 31, 1909)

He became the chief recruiter for the Hawaiian Sugar Plantation Association. Minvielle’s recruitment for the HSPA resulted in eleven expeditions bringing to Hawaii some 5,000-Puerto Ricans between December 23, 1900, and October 19, 1901. Of this number, 2,930 were men, and the rest were women and children. (O’Brien)

The son took the father’s name, but he generally went by the name ‘Toots.’ Toots Minvielle was born June 1, 1903 in Ola‘a Hawaii, where his father managed a sugar plantation store. Toots moved to Oahu in 1916.

The University of Hawai‘i formed its first swim team on October 1924. The swimmers did not have a coach, Team captain was ‘Toots” Minvielle. The team finished with a loss to Pearl Harbor Marines and a win against McKinley HS. (Cisco)

After graduating in 1929 from the University of Hawai‘i as an Engineer and Land Surveyor, he worked on Molokai as a Military surveyor. (Jacobs)

An avid waterman, Toots is credited with starting the Molokai to O‘ahu canoe race, as well as introducing outrigger canoes in California – and, building the first fiberglass outrigger canoe.

“I worked for Molokai Ranch from 1934 to 1938, and that’s when I got the idea for a Molokai to Oʻahu canoe race. All the races then were flat-water races, and I wanted to race in the open ocean. I tried to get George Cooke of Molokai Ranch to sponsor it, but I couldn’t interest him or anyone else until 1952.”

“That year two friends of mine, John Lind and Vance Faucett, were involved with Aloha Week, and they got the committee (to agree) to sponsor the race if I could get three teams to enter. Waikīkī Surf Club was the first to enter with their canoe the Malia.”

“The second team was a crew from Kukui o Lanikāula Canoe Club of Molokai. They used a 30-foot canoe I had picked up at Nāpoʻopoʻo. The third team was a bunch of guys from Ala Moana Park, and they used a 30-foot canoe owned by Dad Center. Each team had a six-man crew.”

“We set the race for October 27 (others note it was October 12, 1952) and decided it would start at Kawākiu and end at the Moana Hotel. … We all slept (on the beach at Kawākiu) that night. In the morning we had a service, and then I went out on the point. The surf was really big, and I signaled with a towel between sets to get the boats in the water.”

“When the three boats were out, I started the race, then flew back to Oʻahu. In the channel, the Malia’s lashing broke three times. Surf Club had also rigged a plywood keel to the bottom of the ama that they thought would help them track better in the open ocean.”

“They sawed it off in mid-channel. And none of the canoes had splash covers, so they all had to bail the whole race. Surf Club had the Malia, the best boat, and they probably should have won, but all of their problems slowed them down.”

“Molokaʻi won in eight hours and fifty-five minutes, Surf Club was second, and the guys from Ala Moana Park were third. They all finished within eighteen minutes of each other. Francis Brown had put up $500 for first place and the Aloha Week committee had put up $300 for second and $ 100 for third. (AE “Toots” Minvielle, November 30, 1977; Clark)

“Outrigger-canoe racing … was brought to the Mainland in 1959 by (Minvielle,) considered the father of the sport.” (LA Times) The first outrigger race held there was on September 20, 1959, a long distance race from Avalon on Catalina Island to the Newport Dunes inside the California Coast.

The first race involved two canoes shipped to California from Hawaii through the efforts of Minvielle. Both of them were koa wood canoes with the names Malia (calm waters) and Niuhi (shark.) (CatalinaCrossing)

In 1954, Minvielle built the first fiberglass canoe, and it proved equal to canoes made of koa, which was growing scarce. Today, most races have special divisions for koa canoes. (Sports Illustrated)

In 1970 he sent the first Hawaiian team to race in Tahiti, in 1976 to Japan, and in 1978 to England to race the English Channel.

While introducing the German people – particularly their Olympic athletes – to outrigger canoe paddling, in 1981, Toots approached the International Olympic Committee and proposed the acceptance of outrigger canoe racing as an Olympic event. (Jacobs)

Follow Peter T Young on Facebook

Follow Peter T Young on Google+

Follow Peter T Young on LinkedIn

Follow Peter T Young on Blogger

Toots_Minvielle

‘Toots’ Minvielle, coach of Outrigger’s first Molokai crew welcomes them at finish-1954

Back: AG Harris, WW Harris Jr, A Makinney, H Harvey. Front: F. Turner, AE Minvielle. Time: 6:15 seconds. Honolulu Harbor

First Hawaiian All Star Catalina Crew, 1959

1959catalinacaliforniacrew

Minvielle_AE

Toots Minvielle Memorial Honor Bronze Canoe Medal

Toots Minvielle Memorial – Honolulu International Airport

January 23, 2016 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Voyaging … and Returning

“In the South Pacific the North Star cannot be seen – north is a dark area of the sky over which stars arch on their nightly paths. One night the navigator discovers a new star just above the horizon in the center of the place of darkness.”

“And as time passed the new star did not appear to move. … Soon everyone was awake to see this miracle; this star that did not move. … Could it have been placed by the gods to light our way to new land?”

Later, “… a massive cloud bank on the western horizon appeared to be standing still, not moving in the wind – a sign that it might be building over an unseen island. … Then we saw a bird, it was homeward bound after its day of fishing. Flying over the water it headed straight for the strange cloud bank in the west and we knew land was near.”

“Looking anew at the clouds we saw a sight difficult to comprehend. What had appeared as an unusual could formation was now revealed as the peak of a gigantic mountain, a mountain of unbelievable size, a white mountain …” (Herb Kane; The Discovery of Hawaiʻi)

Using stratigraphic archaeology and refinements in radiocarbon dating, recent studies suggest it was about AD 900–1000 AD that “Polynesian explorers first made their remarkable voyage from central Eastern Polynesia Islands, across the doldrums and into the North Pacific, to discover Hawai‘i.” (Kirch)

The motivations of the voyagers varied. Some left to explore the world or to seek adventure. Others departed to find new land or new resources because of growing populations or prolonged droughts and other ecological disasters in their homelands. (PVS)

By the time European explorers entered the Pacific in the 15th century almost all of the habitable islands had been settled for hundreds of years and oral traditions told of explorations, migrations and travels across this immense watery world. (Kawaharada)

According to Hawaiian oral traditions collected in the 19th century, voyaging continued between Hawai‘i and the South Pacific after the original settlement of Hawai‘i. The motives given for voyaging are various:

Maintaining Family Connections

The earliest traveler mentioned in oral tradition is the goddess Papa, or Walinuʻu; according to tradition she returned to Kahiki because her parents were from there; in Kahiki she became a young woman again; after her rejuvenation, she returned to Hawai‘i. (Kamakau; PVS)

Moʻikeha is said to have sent his son Kila to Tahiti to bring his grandson Laʻamaikahiki to Hawai‘i. (Fornander; PVS)

Marriage

Hawaiʻiloa voyaged from Hawai‘i to Tahiti to search for husbands or wives for his children. He brought back his brother Ki’s first born son Tu-nui-ai-a-te-Atua as a husband for his daughter O‘ahu. (Fornander; PVS)

Keanini (whose mother was from Hawai‘i) sailed from Kahiki to Hawai‘i to marry Ha‘inakolo; he and Ha‘inakolo returned to Kahiki. After they had a child called Leimakani, Ha‘inakolo and Leimakani returned to Hawai‘i. (Kamakau; PVS)

Family Quarrels and Unhappy Love Affairs

Pele, the volcano goddess, quarreled with her sister Namakaokaha‘i, a sea goddess, and left her homeland (the mystical land of Kuaihelani) to come to Hawai‘i. (Emerson; PVS)

Pāʻao feuded with his brother Lonopele. After each killed the other’s son, Pāʻao migrated to Hawai‘i. (Kamakau; PVS)

Burial in Homeland

Laʻamaikahiki took Mo‘ikeha’s bones back to Tahiti for burial. (Fornander; PVS)

Acquiring Mana from the Homeland

Pāʻao, who brought the war god Kūkaʻilimoku to Hawai‘i, returned to Tahiti to bring back a chief of pure blood (Kamakau; PVS)

Escaping Flood and Famine

Pupu-hulu-ana left Kauai during a famine and searched for islands to the east (Kamakau; PVS) ‘Olopana left Waipi‘o for Kahiki after a flood brought on a famine (Kalakaua; PVS)

Maka‘ika‘i – Sightseeing and Adventure

Kaulu “traveled throughout Kahiki, saw all the kingdoms of the world” (Kamakau; PVS) Paumaukua “was a chief who traveled around Kahiki and brought back with him several foreigners”. (Kamakau; PVS)

Mo‘ikeha’s grandson Kaha‘i-a-Ho‘okamali‘i went sightseeing to Tahiti and brought back with him a breadfruit tree from ‘Upolu (Taha‘a in the Society Islands) and planted it at Pu‘uloa, ‘Ewa district, O‘ahu. (Kamakau; PVS)

Obtain Materials or Plants not Available on one’s home island

The tradition of Aka describes a voyage from Hiva (Marquesas) to Rarotonga to obtain highly prized red feathers; the story of Pepe-iu describes a voyage made to bring the breadfruit plant from Hiva to Rarotonga. (PVS)

By the time Europeans arrived in Hawai‘i in the 18th century, voyaging between Hawai‘i and the rest of Polynesia had ceased for more than 400 years, perhaps the last voyager being Pāʻao or Moʻikeha in the 14th century. The reason for the cessation of voyaging is not known. (PVS) (Lots of information here from Polynesian Voyaging Society)

The image shows a Herb Kane depiction of readying a canoe for a voyage. (Herb Kane)

Follow Peter T Young on Facebook

Follow Peter T Young on Google+

Follow Peter T Young on LinkedIn

Follow Peter T Young on Blogger

Readying_Canoe_for_a_Voyage-(HerbKane)

September 27, 2015 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Protecting a Forest, Preserving a Culture

Envision a child helping to plant a seedling; then, while standing before a 100-year old tree, asking him about what he thought life was like in the islands when that tree was once a seedling.

More importantly, imagine him wonder what life will be like in the islands when his planted seedling turned 100-years old.

This was part of the vision for a forest management plan; let’s look back …

Native koa ecosystems serve as watershed recharge areas while providing recreational opportunities and important wildlife habitat. Koa is considered a vital species for healthy populations of endemic birds and insects. The tree itself has myriad uses in Hawaiian culture and traditions.

In making Hokuleʻa, the Polynesian Voyaging Society (PVS) wanted to use traditional materials (koa wood hulls, lauhala sails, sennit lashing) and traditional tools (adzes, bone gouges, coral files and sharkskin for sanding) in building the canoe.

Instead, the hulls were constructed out of plywood, fiberglass, and resin, and the sails were made from canvas; the lashings were done with synthetic cordage. (PVS)

It takes 125 years or more to grow a koa log large enough for a canoe, which generally needs to be 35 to 45 feet long with a diameter of 48 inches or more (voyaging canoes require larger logs.)

That period may be shortened if specific koa logs are identified for canoes now, and forestry prescriptions (e.g. thinning, pruning) are applied to favor the growth of those trees for canoe logs. (DLNR)

Unless committed efforts were made to grow koa for canoe logs on a sustainable basis now, no Hawaiian voyaging canoes would be built in the future using traditional methods (i.e. from a single large log.)

Likewise, racing and smaller style canoes will need to be fabricated from smaller koa logs joined or spliced together.

While I was Chair at DLNR, I remembered how folks could not find appropriately sized/shaped native trees in Hawai‘i to build the Hokule‘a and subsequent voyaging canoes.

Likewise, I knew of the interest canoe clubs and others had for koa racing canoes. Without protection of our koa forests, we may never have the trees for future canoes.

In 2004, we then initiated the formal designation of the Kapapala Koa Canoe Forest Management Area on land set-aside in 1989, near the Volcano National Park, in Kaʻu, on the Big Island. The designated area consists of approximately 1,200-acres of mature koa-ʻohiʻa forest.

The 1,257-acre property extends from the 3,640-foot elevation of Mauna Loa to 5,100 feet. It is next to the state-managed Kapapala and Ka’u Forest Reserves, and is covered with young and old koa trees, although the trees aren’t yet suitable for canoe building.

Here, koa trees grow tall and straight – necessary traits for core material in canoe shaping. It was the first Forest Management Area specifically designated for nurturing and harvesting koa canoe logs.

A broad, multi-faceted focus was envisioned, dealing with cultural & historical, technical forestry (planning, measurements, theory,) applied forestry (plant, weed, thin, prune, harvest) and wood working (canoe building, as well as crafting of excess/scrap material.)

Seven major goals of the project included:

Preserve Hawaiʻi’s unique natural and cultural inheritance for future generations, by fostering knowledge and respect for Hawaii’s native forests, in a way that inspires better care of its natural environment.
Protect threatened tropical forest habitat and promote environmental policies and practices, that address biological sustainability and human well-being, by identifying and integrating relevant traditional Hawaiian natural resource stewardship models with current Western management strategies.
Develop natural resource stewardship models that involve a wide range of constituent groups.
Involve youth through cooperative programs with the Department of Education, University of Hawaiʻi, and other school and education institutions.
Provide wood workers with portions of harvested trees that are not processed as canoe logs.
Involve other constituency groups (i.e. canoe clubs, forest management entities and cultural organizations).
Provide compatible opportunities for public uses such as hunting and recreation.

Protecting trees for canoes is great; but, for me, the plan was not just about trees – we envisioned greater benefit by getting school children into the forests to help with the management and monitoring of its progress – and help them wonder.

At the outset, we envisioned that trees in the forest would be ‘designated’ to schools and canoe clubs across the state, with students and paddlers from each school/club periodically visiting and nurturing their respective tree. Ultimately, the school/club would get a log for a school/club koa canoe.

Likewise, the intent was to make the excess wood available to wood workers, so nothing would be wasted and crafters would have material to work with.

As part of the project implementation, Hawaiʻi Forest Institute worked with the Hawai‘i Forest Industry Association (HFIA,) DLNR’s Division of Forestry and Wildlife (DOFAW,) Imi Pono and the Three Mountain Alliance to develop a plan for bringing youth to the Kapapala Canoe Forest for cultural and environmental education. (I am proud to now serve as an HFI Board member)

The dream of assuring future koa logs for canoes is apparently working toward reality through partnerships with DLNR and others. I am hopeful the needs for future koa canoe logs will be filled, DOE and children across the state can also participate in these activities, and a healthy forest will be protected.

Follow Peter T Young on Facebook

Follow Peter T Young on Google+

Follow Peter T Young on LinkedIn

Follow Peter T Young on Blogger

Kapapala-forest-hfia

Kapapala-forest

Example of Koa_Tree

Example of Koa_Canoe_log-moving

Example of Koa_Canoe_log-hauling

Example of Koa_Canoe_log

Example of Koa_Canoe-shaping

Koa Canoes

Koa Canoe

hokulea-PVS-circa_1975

June 7, 2015 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Chief’s Canoe

Throughout the years of late-prehistory, AD 1400s – 1700s, and through much of the 1800s, the canoe was a principal means of travel in ancient Hawaiʻi. Canoes were used for interisland and inter-village coastal travel.

Most permanent villages initially were near the ocean and at sheltered beaches, which provided access to good fishing grounds, as well as facilitating convenient canoe travel.

As long distance voyaging declined, the need shifted from voyaging canoes to large canoes for chiefly visits and warfare within the Hawaiian Islands, resulting in changes in canoe design.

For these short coastal and inter-island trips, paddling replaced sailing as the dominant power mode. Never certain when hospitality might turn sour, chiefs prudently traveled with bodyguards. On a visit to another chiefdom, they might prepare his food to avoid poisoning.

Their numbers were a silent announcement of his status. At a signal, they could launch a raid, fight a skirmish, or conduct a guarded retreat to the canoe landing. (Kane)

The canoe was used by the chiefs as a means of ostentation and display. On a voyage the alii occupied the raised and sheltered platform in the waist of the canoe which was called the pola, while the paddle-men sat in the spaces fore and aft, their number showing the strength of the king’s following. (Malo)

And for a chief eager to make a quick getaway regardless of wind conditions, his bodyguards could also be put to work as paddlers. No longer need he wait for a favorable wind, or beat upwind to a destination on long tacks. Paddling provided great freedom of mobility, the ability to move canoes in any direction despite calms or adverse winds. (Kane)

Royal Centers were where the aliʻi resided; aliʻi often moved between several residences throughout the year. The Royal Centers were selected for their abundance of resources and recreation opportunities, with good surfing and canoe-landing sites being favored.

The Hawaiian court was mobile within the districts or kingdom the aliʻi controlled. A paramount’s attendants might consist of as many as 700 to 1000-followers made of kahuna and political advisors (including geologists, architects, seers, messengers, executioner, etc;) servants which included craftsmen, guards, stewards; relatives and numerous hangers-on (friends, lovers, etc.)

There was no regular schedule for movement between Royal Centers. In part, periodic moves served to ensure that district chiefs did not remain isolated, or unsupervised long enough to gather support for a revolt.

In addition to personal economic support, the king also required tribute and taxes by which to maintain and display his political power.

Structures associated with the Royal Centers include heiau (religious structures) and sacred areas, house sites for the aliʻi and the entourage of family and kahuna (priests), and activity areas for burial, bathing, games, recreation, and crafts.

Religion and politics were closely interwoven in Hawaiian culture. The Royal Centers reflect this interrelationship with residential sites, heiau and sacred sites present within a defined royal compound.

Puʻuhonua (places of refuge) were often associated with these Royal Centers, reflecting the strong association between puʻuhonua and sites occupied by the high-ranking aliʻi.

A ruling chief moved his court as desired, travelling along the coasts by canoe with his attendants and setting up temporary establishments at certain sites for purposes of business or pleasure.

The canoes “have the bottom for the most part formed of a single piece or log of wood, hollowed out to the thickness of an inch, or an inch and a half, and brought to a point at each end.”

“The sides consist of three boards, each about an inch thick, and neatly fitted and lashed to the bottom part. The extremities, both at head and stern, are a little raised, and both are made sharp, somewhat like a wedge, but they flatten more abruptly, so that the two side-boards join each other side by side for more than a foot.”

“They are rowed by paddles, such as we had generally met with; and some of them have a light triangular sail, like those of the Friendly Islands, extended to a mast and boom. The ropes used for their boats, and the smaller cords for their fishing-tackle, are strong and well made.” (Captain Cook’s Journal)

“This village (at Kealakekua Bay) we found to be the residence of (Kamehameha;) from whence, before the ship was well secured, eleven large canoes put off from the shore with great order, and formed two equal sides of an obtuse triangle.”

“The largest canoe being in the angular point, was rowed by eighteen paddles on each side…. (The Chief’s) canoe was advanced a little forward in the procession, to the actions of which the other ten strictly attended, keeping the most exact and regular time with their paddles, and inclining to the right or left agreeably to the directions of the king…”

The Chief “conducted the whole business with a degree of adroitness and uniformity, that manifested a knowledge of such movements and maneuver far beyond what could reasonably have been expected. In this manner he paraded round the vessels, with a slow and solemn motion.” (Captain Vancouver)

Later, “Near sunset, our distinguished guests took leave and returned to the shore on their state vehicle-their double canoe, seated on a light narrow scaffolding which rested on the semi-elliptical timbers by which two large parallel canoes, each neatly carved from a tree, are yoked together, five or six feet apart.”

“Their large canoes are two to three feet in depth, and thirty to fifty in length. The thin sides are raised by the addition of a nicely fitted waist-board. Additional pieces of thin wood, ingeniously carved, are attached at the ends, covering a few feet as a deck turning up some fifteen inches at the extremity, and giving the appearance of greater finish, beauty and utility.”

“The favored passengers on a Hawaiian double canoe sit three or four feet above the surface of the water, while the rowers sit on thwarts in the canoe with their feet below the surface and their faces forward. The steersmen sit in the stern.”

“Their paddles have a round handle from three to four feet long, and a thin blade from twelve to eighteen inches long and eight to twelve wide, and are grasped by one hand at the extreme end, and by the other, near the blade, and are used by main strength.”

“The chiefs, on this occasion, were rowed off with spirit by nine or ten athletic men in each of the coupled canoes, making regular, rapid and effective strokes, all on one side for a while, then, changing at a signal in exact time, all on the other.”

“Each raising his head erect, and lifting one hand high to throw the paddle blade forward beside the canoe, the rowers, dipping their blades, and bowing simultaneously and earnestly, swept their paddles back with naked muscular arms, making the brine boil, and giving great speed to their novel and serviceable sea-craft.” (Hiram Bingham)

The image shows Kalaniʻōpuʻu, Chief of Hawaiʻi, bringing presents to Captain Cook (John Webber.)

Follow Peter T Young on Facebook

Follow Peter T Young on Google+

Follow Peter T Young on LinkedIn

Follow Peter T Young on Blogger

Kalaniopuu, King of Hawaii, bringing presents to Captain Cook-John_Webber-1779