Sail Making
Humu Pe`a

Hawai`iloa needed two 375 square foot sails which would withstand wind, rain, sun, salt, and repeated raising and lowering. Making traditional pe`a (sails) from lau hala has proven one of the most challenging parts of the Hawai`iloa project.

The most widely distributed pe`a design at European contact was triangular and lashed (apex down) to the mast and boom. But little was known about how pe`a were made. A rare Bishop Museum collection, made in the 1940s on the south Pacific island of Kapingamarangi, provided clues for the makers of the Hawai`iloa pe`a.

It took 11 weavers over two years to prepare, plait, and sew the lau hala panels for Hawai`iloa. After months of painstaking labor, they ripped during the early sea trials. Experimentation continues and a third set will be tested during the 1995 voyage.

Sewing lau hala panels into a sail (56k) (Photo by Monte Costa, Bishop Museum)
Exhibit: Sophie Kaina making lau hala sail panels. (26k) (Drawing by D. Kemble for M.S. Allen, sculpture by Jacqueline Lau, photo by Jeffrey Sue)

Poho pono na pe`a heke a ku ana.
A well-filled topsail helped him to arrive.
Said of a fast traveller.
(`Olelo No`eau #2681; Pukui 1983)

Cordage

Back Gallery of the Hawai`iloa Exhibit

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