Kuʻu Home o ʻAʻĀ
“Change is a strange thing it cannot be denied, it can help you find yourself or loose your pride, move with it slowly as along the road we go, please do not hold on to me we all most go alone”
- Ku’u home o Kahalu’u - Olomana 1976
Welina mai, Chris here.
We usually post our substack journals on Thursday, but I decided to write this on fathers day Sunday in honor one of my biggest supporters. I am forever grateful to my dad for immersing me in the ocean my whole life. When the elders back home talk about my dads life, it’s ever apparent that we are not separated by land but connected by water. What I have learned from him as a father, is that you cannot control the ones you love, you can only prepare them to excel. I doubt he expected to have a son going on so many pacific crossings, just as I didn’t expect him to keep blessing me when I least expected it. And mom, thats a whole other story full of praise. Abundance multiplies the more I think of my loving parents and our divine call to be immersive in life. One day, I want to show up for people in the way they do… along with all the other hammer watermen and waterwomen from back home who support our journey. I see you all.
I thought about this today as I balanced ‘A’ā out in traction pad material from his old Dakine stock.
The purpose is to provide support to the feet in turbulent times, and comfort in chill times… but like all small details, the bigger meaning was that we are cared for… and each step matters. So walk lightly.
Time is excitedly marching faster toward our homeward trek. Every check mark on the to-do list is a mini voyage in itself. I can now monitor the foresails trim from the sleeping quarters, the aft hatches double as excellent navigator seats, the teak pola prototype drains water and has much better windage, the soft shackles are more gentle on the hull, the engine mount can finally fold up, the new Tohatsu purs…
For those who keep wondering, my passage checklist as of this month includes
Offshore Safety
- Garmin Inreach (3)
- Revere offshore liferaft
Lifevests
Jacklines / Harnesses
Backup rigging
Radar deflector
Epirb
Orion alert locator
Rain catchment tarp
Water desalinization pump
First aid kit
Overboard buoy ring
Icom m94d handheld AIS (Wishlist)
Navigation
Navionics charts
Garmin Inreach
Memorization of celestial azimuths
Memorization of celestial latitude sights
eTrex
Nautical paper charts
Basic Dead reckoning
Sheet to tiller self steering
Raymarine tiller pilot (Wishlist)
Weather and communication
Inreach Sat phone (3)
Daily report from west coast
Meteorologists daily report from HI
Inreach Marine weather forecast
SSB radio (TBD on installation)
VHF radio
These among other things are not limited to our water tanks, solar power, food/health provisioning, off-grid cooking supplies, backup lashing lines, the endless tool kit, epoxy, weather gear, warmth, data collecting prep etc. etc. etc . . .
He wa’a he moku, he moku he wa’a
The island is the canoe, the canoe is the island.
Pukui #258
It’s wonderful to think that just a few weeks ago, ‘A’ā was a stack of pieces piled on a trailer in a parking lot. Every lashing, heavy lifting, repair job, strategic thinking and silly mistake has been a reflection of the human condition. This has got to be one of the most extensive yet rewarding projects so far in life.
We’re creative resilient creatures, but we do need to rest . . . and thats why I have to go for now. The hands are worn and the eyes burn from long days, a hui hou dear reader.
P.S. If you have solid financial comfort and want to see us chase our dreams, our Gofundme page still remains: https://www.gofundme.com/f/bring-our-canoe-home Mahalo!
-Chris
