Turning over a hull (44k) (Photo by Monte Costa, Bishop Museum)
Hawai`iloa started as two 25 ton Sitka spruce logs. Wright Bowman Jr.'s first cuts were long and sweeping, the length of the kua la`au (logs). The shape of the ka`ele (hulls) appeared quickly. But Wright and his dedicated volunteer team sawed, planed, chipped, sanded, and varnished for more than 24,000 hours over a two year period before the ka`ele were finished.
With no modern examples to follow, Hawai`iloa is really a 57 ft long experiment. Many design changes were needed along the way. After the first sea trials, 6500 pounds were trimmed and the ka`ele reversed. Today Wright says "it sails perfectly".
Turning over a hull (44k) (Photo by Monte Costa, Bishop Museum)
Exhibit (44k) (Concept drawing by D. Kemble for M.S. Allen, sculpture by
Jacqueline Lau, photo by Jeffrey Sue)
E lauhoe mai na wa`a; i ke ka, i ka hoe; i ka hoe, i ke ka; pae aku i ka `aina.
Everybody paddle the canoes together; bail and paddle, paddle and bail, and the shore is reached.
Pitch in with a will, everybody, and the work is quickly done.
(`Olelo No`eau #327; Pukui 1983)
Woods of Hawai`iloa
Back Gallery of the Hawai`iloa Exhibit
BISHOP MUSEUM
The State Museum of Natural and Cultural History
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