Ma ka hana ka ‘ike
Learn by doing
Aloha mai, Chris here!
Last week I got a call from the rigging department that their swedging machine had a flaw. After thousands of dollars and weeks of work, everything had to be re-done. Well, up the mast I go to undue, swedge and re-install each individual stay… hō. The toils were real, but I’m grateful for my new Scottish rigger friend who came to mentor me through the process.
What took the longest was probably undoing the cotter pins that Kalani and I seized to its maximum. Come to learn, you only need to bend them quarter inch… the penalty was 4 hours swaying back and forth with two pliers hanging on to a slippery mast and sunburnt maka. However, one new maka started to open.
A good braddah once told me, human action comes from a place of fear or love. It wasn’t until the last hour of work that I realized how enriching this experience was.
To think about it as a child of Hawaii;
The kaula (shrouds) secure the kumu kia (mast) to the wa’a.
The kumu kia is our highest point to the heavens.
Highest point of connection.
The kumu kia holds the pe’a (sail).
We use the pe’a to move our wa’a.
Our wa’a is our way home.
How important it is, to evaluate our highest point of connection before we embark on anything. This needs to be from a place of loving our wa’a. Not from a place of fearing failure. From a place of accepting mistakes not having mental breakdowns. Hayn… maka hana ka ‘ike ! we learn on da jobsite.
On my journey to install the improved shrouds, I observed an opportunity to secure the mast with a more holistic approach. Two dyneema lines were then sent through four bridles that divided the weight across the outer ‘iakos. I made this decision to balance the tension on the leeward side of the canoe to relieve the weight of the lashings.



In other words, find more opportunities to connect to the source, it will relieve the weight.
The owner of the canoes original design, Hanneke Boon had reached out on behalf of hearing about ‘Aʻā. As she described ethnomads as the crew bridging the gap between Polynesia and the contemporary sailing world. ‘Aʻā was originally designed on a performance blend from the maritime excellence of Hawaiʻi, Indonesia, Micronesia, Tonga and Aotearoa; the ingenuity of the Japanese wood joints and the contemporary Cutter rig (designed to distribute the load of wind through the two headsails). From my perspective, it is truly a moananuiākea design.
‘A'ā has been teaching me more of valuing work. Everything points toward my connection to Akua. The reward is spiritual. Why work 30 years of our life, for the market to crash and we have nothing? This wa’a is another hymn, another prayer, another chance. E ke Akua, e ola ē.
Our kupuna inhabited the pacific by more than physical exertion alone. As humans, the only design we are not above, is the design of nature, and the design of nature are the laws of Akua. Akua is universal and timeless, and that is why we are still here today.
Since I started realizing that, my maka went from sunburnt, to the light of abundance.
Some examples of abundance since my last substack… A mahalo nui,
Uncle Colin, for introducing me to Yvon Chouinard’s descendants who have become our Patagonia support,
Rising Co for blessing us with a fundraiser,
All the sailors who have been sharing mana’o,
Graham from downwind marine who hooked us up with brand new halyards and eye splices,
Da family for checking in often,
Matt Hall for giving me so much encouragement and fellowship,
And the Ola Canvas family, for literally everything.
Additional updates include… Topping lift rigged as back up main halyard, spinnaker halyard as back up jib halyard. Prevention lines, solar panel wiring, bimini security, lashing of new pola, hoe style daggerboards, lash down water maker, find a good spot for the liferaft and then finally sleep, please.
A few more days of work left and I can finally move out of rigging and handyman mode and finally get into the more fun side - provisioning - Keʻilis favorite part. We hope to share more next week!
-Chris
Mahalo ke akua no na mea apau, mahalo kakou, e ola nahokuho’okelewa’a !
Link to our GoFundMe
What you're doing is brave and impressive. Good journey to you all