For its first sail in eight years, the BYU–Hawaii canoe joins the FestPAC fleet, then circumnavigates O'ahu
By Mikaele Foley
LAIE, Hawaii, June 2024 — The Polynesian Cultural Center and Brigham Young University–Hawaii, which have worked together for 60-plus years to support the education of thousands of students, agreed about a year ago to expand their unique partnership even further to work more closely with BYU–Hawaii’s majestic 57-foot wa’a kaulua — a traditional twin-hulled Hawaiian voyaging canoe, beginning with preparing it to join 26 other entrants that month in the 2024 gathering of canoes during the 13th Festival of Pacific Arts and Culture.
Festival of Pacific Arts and Culture gathering of canoes: FestPAC is a quadrennial two-week cultural celebration of indigenous peoples designed “to halt the erosion of traditional practices through ongoing cultural exchange.” It started in 1972 in Suva, Fiji, and rotates locations, but only met in Hawaii this year for the first time — providing an excellent opportunity for the Iosepa to participate.
FestPAC canoe gathering’s can trace their history to when the Honolulu-based Polynesian Voyaging Society built its 62-foot double-hulled, twin-masted Hōkūle‘a canoe and attracted worldwide attention when its crewmembers sailed round-trip to Tahiti in 1976 using only traditional non-instrument wayfinding.
Thousands of Tahitians awaited the Hōkūle‘a arrival in Papeete, and the number of similar Pacific voyaging canoes patterned after those used centuries ago to migrate across open oceans began to increase and soon became a feature at subsequent FestPAC gatherings.
The voyaging canoe renaissance blossoms: Of course, the Polynesian Voyaging Society Hawaiians (and others who have created such crafts since) first had to reacquire ancient wayfinding knowledge, which hadn’t been used for centuries in most of the islands.
Hōkūle‘a navigators, for example, worked closely with the late Pius “Papa Mau” Piailug, a master navigator from remote Satawal atoll in the Eastern Caroline Islands of Micronesia. There, he and a small number of others grew up learning to sail far out to sea by memorizing the movements of the sun and stars, cloud formations, changes in wind directions as well as ocean currents, and other natural navigational indicators.
Naturally nowadays, modern versions of these canoes and their crewmembers also use electronic navigational devices powered by solar panels, cooking stoves, ice chests, etc., and they’re also usually accompanied by motorized escort vessels that can tow the canoes in and out of harbors and anchorages, or whenever else needed.
BYU–Hawaii creates the Iosepa in 2001: When the BYUH Hawaiian Studies program started in 1998, its initial faculty and students also dreamed of creating their own sailing canoe, and with the help of special grants and donations, this started to become a reality in 2000.
With permissions and plans in place, the late William “Uncle Bill” Kaua‘iwiulaokalani Wallace, the first BYUH Hawaiian Studies director, approached Tongan master carver Tui’one Pulotu, and Hawaiian master carver Kawika Eskaran. Both singed on.
Pulotu, a former labor missionary who settled in Laie after helping expand the university campus and build the Center, had just finished creating a 105-foot kalia-style canoe [where one hull is usually smaller and acts like an outrigger] in Tonga for the 2000 millenium, and Eskaran later joined the project as soon as he was available.
(Left): Tui‘one Pulotu, using a six-foot chainsaw, makes the first cut on one of the logs imported from Fiji for the yet-unnamed canoe on March 6, 2001.
(Right): Thousands participated in launching ceremonies for the Iosepa at Hukilau Beach in Laie on November 3, 2001. —Photos by Mike Foley
With the help of skilled volunteers from the community, they shaped the BYU–Hawaii canoe from seven huge hardwood logs imported from Fiji (because adequate-sized logs were no longer available by that time in Hawaii).
About eight months later, as the carvers and volunteers neared completion of the canoe in a field on the Kamehameha Hwy. side of the Polynesian Cultural Center’s Hawaiian Village, everyone wondered what its name would be.
Uncle Bill bestows the name Iosepa on the canoe: Uncle Bill, then also a captain-in-training, resisted suggestions to give it a customary Hawaiian name, until one day during the building phase while resting after lunch, he dreamed it should be called the Iosepa — the Hawaiianized name of Joseph.
Years ago, Uncle Bill explained in his dream that his grandfather told him not to forget those Hawaiians (along with a small number of additional Polynesians) who settled in Skull Valley, Utah, near Tooele from 1888 to 1917. They migrated to be closer to a temple (consequently, most of them eventually returned to Hawaii as the then-new temple in Laie neared dedication in 1919.)
They named their unlikely desert colony Iosepa after Joseph F. Smith, the nephew of Joseph Smith Jr. Hawaiians had given him that name in 1854 when he began serving his first mission in Hawaii as a 15-year-old boy. Uncle Bill has also said the name Iosepa honors Joseph Smith Jr., the Prophet; Joseph, the son of Israel sold into Egypt; and Joseph, the younger son of Lehi.
In another connection, the late Elder M. Russell Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve, a descendant of President Joseph F. Smith, dedicated the Iosepa canoe on the sands of Hukilau Beach in Laie on November 3, 2001. Several thousand attended that ceremony, which also included launching the Iosepa for a short sail offshore, and a lū‘au luncheon for all in attendance.
BYU–Hawaii and the Center expand their agreement: Since 2008, BYU–Hawaii agreed with the Polynesian Cultural Center to permanently berth the Iosepa in a distinctively A-shaped hālau wa’a (canoe house),built with the help of donations in the Hawaiian Village and named Kaua‘iwiulaokalani in Uncle Bill’s honor. There, millions of visitors have been able to see it up close; but while the BYUH Hawaiian Studies program continued to use it for hands-on training, it had not been sailed for the past eight years.
About a year before FestPAC organizers named Honolulu as the venue for their 2024 event, including a large gathering of canoes, BYU–Hawaii and Center leaders modified their agreement: BYUH would continue to use the Iosepa as a “floating classroom,” while the Cultural Center agreed to take a bigger role in maintaining the iconic canoe, preparing it to sail, and helping train crewmembers. The Center turned its part of the project over to Keali‘i Haverly, director of sustainability, cultural theming, projects and maintenance.
Almost every Wednesday afternoon when the attraction was closed to visitors since the COVID-19 pandemic, Center personnel, BYU–Hawaii students and staff, and community volunteers started getting the Iosepa shipshape. They sanded and refinished all the wooden components, rerigged all the key lashing fixtures, overhauled the steel tracks and “canoe cradle” system originally devised by senior service missionaries that allowed the multi-ton wa’a to move in and out of the canoe house, and completed many other improvements.
Ka ‘Uhane o ke Kai, a scale-model training canoe, is berthed next to the Iosepa at the Hawaiian Village dock. Mark Lee converted one of the PCC’s fiberglass tour canoes into Ka ‘Uhane, which can easily be hauled by a heavy-duty pickup truck and boat-trailer.
Mark Ellis, the PCC’s new director of voyaging experiences (in the reddish shirt) who has almost 20 years of experience sailing the Hōkūle‘a in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, helps steer the Iosepa off Hale‘iwa. — Photos by Mark Holladay Lee
A new training canoe: At an early point, Haverly commissioned local waterman (and photographer) Mark Lee to convert one of the Center’s much smaller fiberglass canoes, normally used to conduct tours on the freshwater lagoon, into an approximately one-third scale model of the Iosepa, complete with a single-mast sail, rigging, and hoe uli steering paddle. When it was ready, they named the strikingly similar canoe Ka ‘Uhane o Ke Kai — the “soul of the sea.”
Unlike the Iosepa, which requires a large tractor-trailer rig and a police escort to haul it to a Hawaii State boat harbor or ramp to launch, Lee pointed out because Ka ‘Uhane is much lighter, it can easily be winched onto a large boat trailer that a robust pickup truck can tow in less than a half-hour to the nearest state boat ramp at Kahana Bay.
There, Lee explained, the trailer carrying Ka ‘Uhane is backed down the ramp into the water and “floated alongside a dock. It accommodates a training crew of six or seven people, can easily sail in and out of the bay for several hours, and can then be brought back to the Cultural Center by dark.”
A new director of voyaging experiences: Then several months ago, while this work was going on, the Center hired Mark Ellis of Honolulu to fill a new position as director of voyaging experiences. In the years since Ellis graduated from BYU–Hawaii in 1994, he had accumulated about 20 years of blue-water sailing experience throughout the Pacific Ocean and Eastern seaboard aboard the Hōkūle‘a.
But Ellis, who had also earned a master’s degree from Utah State University in instructional design and development, and started a career in that field with the Kamehameha Schools, felt inspired to accept the position. In fact, he recalled when he attended the dedication ceremony for the Iosepa at Hukilau Beach in 2001, “I just thought to myself, one of these days I would love to sail on this canoe” — something he finally accomplished this past summer.
The VIP group sailing aboard the Iosepa in Kaneohe Bay includes (left-right) Polynesian Cultural Center President Alfred Grace and his wife, Valerie; Keali‘i Haverly, Center vice president of sustainability, cultural theming, projects and maintenance; BYU–Hawaii President Keoni S.K. Kauwe III; Alohalani Housman, BYUH Dean of Culture, Language & Performing Arts, and the Jonathan Nāpela Center for Hawaiian & Pacific Studies; Isaiah Walker, BYUH Academic Vice President; Kerri and Brent Robinson of the Cultural Center board of directors; and Pria and Jarod Hester, Center Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer. Photo by Mark Holladay Lee
The Iosepa sets sail for the FestPAC gathering: On the evening of May 29, a big semi-truck rig towing a “low-boy” trailer backed into the PCC’s A-shaped canoe house, shifted the Iosepa aboard, and then with a police escort to help with traffic control, hauled the unusual load to the larger state Hale‘iwa boat harbor and ramp.
For the next two days, the crew practiced rigging, stepping the mast, furling the sails, and underwent offshore sea-trial drills.
On June 1, the escort boat Ulei towed the Iosepa past Laie Point to He‘eia Pier on Kaneohe Bay; and from there two days later to Mōkapu Peninsula on the far side of Kaneohe Bay, where it joined 26 other canoes as they staged for the official FestPAC gathering the next morning at Kualoa Beach.
Twenty-seven entrants — including BYU–Hawaii’s 57-foot wa’a kaulua (i.e., twin-hulled vessel, not pictured) participated in the 2024 Festival of the Pacific Arts and Culture (FestPAC) gathering of traditional voyaging canoes on June 5 at Kualoa Beach on Kaneohe Bay.
(Left-right): Chadd Paishon of the Makali‘i canoe family in Kawaihae, Island of Hawaii, played a key training role with the Iosepa in its earliest years; and Teri and Hawaiian master carver Kawika Eskaran, some of whose children have crewed on the Iosepa, at the FestPAC gathering of traditional canoes. — Photos by Mike Foley
The morning of June 5, a large crowd had gathered at the beach for the orderly arrival of the canoes in succession. Smaller vessels ferried the respective crewmembers to the beach, who were with the welcome trumpeting of seashells, chants, customary dances, and other protocols.
“These people have come from all over the Pacific,” said Keali‘i Haverly, “so we’re excited to see them arriving on these beautiful wa’a that are in this historic and sacred place,” said Keali‘i Haverly, explaining that in ancient Hawaiian culture Kualoa had been considered so significant that passing canoes paused paddling and dipped their sails in recognition as they passed.
Haverly also said, “We’re so grateful for the amazing relationship we have with BYU–Hawaii. Yesterday, we took President Kauwe, Alfred Grace, a few of the vice presidents, and others out just for them to feel the power of the Iosepa and the mission that’s ahead for it.”
“We feel that the sail up until that very moment had been highly successful,” he continued. “The future is exciting for the Iosepa, the university and the Center. Our connection — the utilization of the Center’s resources to get Iosepa on-mission beyond the hālau wa’a and the Hawaiian Village — has been quite incredible.”
BYUH President Kauwe also responds (on the right): BYU–Hawaii President Keoni S.K. Kauwe III, a Hawaiian, said, “As with all things, we always work closely with the Polynesian Cultural Center. We are so excited that we were able to make this happen, to have the Iosepa return again and be able to serve its purpose, which is voyaging and educating our students.”
“It’s been great to have the community, PCC and BYU Hawai’i employees and students be able to be a part of this historic event.”
“I want to thank the many, many hands who helped us to sail the Iosepa again,” President Kauwe added. “It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to participate with the other wa’a for the Festival of Pacific Arts and Culture.”
Center President Grace replies (above, on the left): Center President Alfred Grace, a New Zealand Maori who had previously only boarded the Iosepa when it was anchored offshore of Hukilau Beach, said the canoe is not only culturally significant, but he also recognizes the unifying influence it has on the Church institutions in Laie and the members of the surrounding communities.
He said the Iosepa’s voyaging “is such an integral part of who we are as members of Moananuiakiwa — [as Maori call] the greatest ocean in the world. The Polynesian Cultural Center has represented the cultures of Polynesia well for more than six decades, and we’ll continue to do that.”
“This was actually the first time I’ve been under power, and it was a wonderful experience,” he said. “It also brought out a sense of gratitude and respect for our ancestors.”
“It is a tremendous thing to lose sight of the land and continue on, and because our ancestors were willing to do that, we have the opportunities and the blessings that we have in our lives today.”
“The Iosepa is a reminder of us that even now we need to lose sight of the shore and go forward with faith and trust — not only in our Heavenly Father, but trust in those who are with us on the journey. and we know that like Iosepa, we’ll always reach our desired destination,” Grace added.
So it was a sense of gratitude, a sense of brotherhood with all those on board and (2:20) I’ll add too, it was just not again a strengthening of the bonds between BYU-Hawaii and the PCC (2:31) but also the bonds between our communities.
President Grace stressed two other points. First, his full confidence in the new captain: “We have an amazing captain in Mark Ellis. We wouldn’t have even thought about refinishing the canoe if we didn’t have trust that we had the right person to sail it.”
And second, “Iosepa is appealing to different members of our society,” he said, “younger groups, groups more concerned with environmental issues and regenerative lifestyles. For these people the Iosepa is like a magnet.”
“It’s a piece of who we are, and it’s out there sailing on the ocean.”
Haverly also replies: Haverly also said, “We’re happy to be a part of this, and the voyaging community has been very receptive. For example, Nainoa Thompson [the well-known Hōkūle’a captain and navigator] welcomed the Iosepa back to the water after its time away” the night before the gathering.
Following the gathering, additional FestPAC activities continued for another week in other parts of Oahu, including the Hawaii Convention Center in Waikiki and the Stan Sheriff arena at the University of Hawaii/Mānoa and ten of the participating island group cultures — including Tonga, Niue, Guam (Chamorro), Rapa Nui, Cook Islands, Fiji, Marshall Islands, French Polynesia and Tuvalu — also put on two-a-day free performances from June 10-15 in the Polynesian Cultural Center’s Pacific Theater.
The Kualoa fireside: Meanwhile, the Iosepa and crewmembers lingered at Kualoa where family, friends, and other church members joined them for a Sunday evening fireside program on June 9.
During that program, a Iosepa student crewmember from the Philiippines said one of the best parts of his experience was hearing the experiences and testimonies of the other crewmembers. Then he said could also related to the improvements the Iosepa had recently gone through “because I myself have gone through some refinement.”
Alohalani Housman, BYUH Dean of Culture, Language & Performing Arts, and the Jonathan Nāpela Center for Hawaiian & Pacific Studies, said one word, ‘ohana or family, describes the Iosepa and its mission for her.
“Especially this week, it’s kind of been emotional in a good way because I feel that the veil has been very thin and have felt aloha from our ancestors, our kūpuna… who are joyous and happy for Iosepa and for its mission in bringing aloha to all of us.”
Dean Housman also cited 2 Nephi 29: Know ye not that there are more nations than one? Know ye not that I, the Lord your God, have created all men, and that I remember those who are upon the isles of the sea, and that I rule in the heavens above, and in the earth beneath, and I bring forth my word unto the children of men, yea, even upon all the nations of the earth.
“I just love this scripture because it tells us that God knows us,” she said.
Both she and Captain Mark Ellis also referred to the small “butterfly”-shaped patch Hawaiians call a pewa that prevents cracks in the wooden hull and other objects from expanding. “They remind me of the importance of the Atonement of Jesus Christ.”
The remainder of the voyage: After the gathering, other FestPAC activities took place at various venues in Honolulu,
From Kualoa, the Iosepa continued to sail around the eastern Makapu‘u Point of Oahu to the Maritime Education Center in Honolulu Harbor, where others had the opportunity to come aboard.
Next, the Iosepa continued its circumnavigation of Oahu, stopping at Pōka‘i Bay boat harbor in Wai‘anae on June 21, where it did service projects with other canoes, and met with church members in the Makakilo Stake.
Then the Iosepa sailed around Ka‘ena Point on the northern tip of Oahu and back to Hale‘iwa boat harbor on June 24.
From there it was once again trucked to its home at the Polynesian Cultural Center the next day.
Other take-aways: Polynesian Cultural Center President Alfred Grace, a New Zealand Maori who had only previously been aboard the Iosepa while it was anchored offshore of Hukilau Beach,” said sailing on it “was a wonderful experience. It brought out a sense of gratitude and a respect for our ancestors.”
“It is a tremendous thing to lose sight of the land and continue on; and because our ancestors were willing to do that, we have the opportunities and the blessings that we have in our lives today.”
“We need to go forward with faith and trust, not only in our Heavenly Father but also in those who are with us on the journey, so we know that like Iosepa, we’ll always reach our desired destination.”
“The Iosepa is a wonderful example of the unity between Brigham Young University–Hawaii and the Polynesian Cultural Center,” President Grace added. “It’s very symbolic of the fact that we are ‘voyaging’ together. We have the same mission.
President Grace stressed two other points in his remarks: First, he has full confidence in the new captain: “We have an amazing captain in Mark Ellis. We wouldn’t have even thought about refinishing the canoe if we didn’t have trust that we had the right person to sail it.”
Second, “Iosepa is appealing to different members of our society,” he said, “younger groups, groups more concerned with environmental issues and regenerative lifestyles. For these people, the Iosepa is like a magnet. It’s a piece of who we are, and it’s out there sailing on the ocean.”
President Kauwe also expressed his gratitude: “I want to thank the many, many hands who helped us to sail the Iosepa again,” President Kauwe also said. “It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to participate with the other wa’a for the Festival of Pacific Arts and Culture.”
And after his first voyage on the Iosepa, Mark Ellis said he sees the canoe “as an opportunity to honor the accomplishments of his ancestors, help Hawaiian Studies students and others at BYU–Hawaii and the Polynesian Cultural Center, and as a beautiful tool to use in the community, because many times they’ll also remember the feelings they received from the Iosepa.”
Ellis added that he feels his own “confirmation this is the place where I need to be.”
