The importance of malama aina

Nineteen years ago, Kalani Kahalioumi was at Makua Bay on Oahu, standing on shore with thousands of people for Israel Kamakawiwo‘ole’s memorial service.

Nobody was allowed to go in the water until Hokulea, the double-hulled canoe that made history in 1976 when its crew traveled to Tahiti using only traditional Polynesian navigation techiniques, arrived. Kamakawiwo‘ole’s ashes would be taken on board and scattered into the sea.

Kahalioumi had seen Hokulea once before, anchored in Hilo’s port, during a class trip in 1980 (“I was knee-high,” he said). He knew of the significance of the canoe, how it had helped launch the Hawaiian and Polynesian cultural renaissances. But it was different seeing Hokulea under sail.

It was, he said this week, magical.

“When that canoe came to shore, we were allowed to go out and swim to it,” Kahalioumi remembered. “They were lowering the anchor. I helped lock the anchor into the sand, and I’ve never let go since.”

Kahalioumi has since been a crew member on Hokulea’s statewide sails, including the most recent one in 2013. Last summer, he was on board for a leg of its current voyage: a three-year, 46,000-mile sail around the world. Hokulea’s Malama Honua journey is a way for the Polynesian Voyaging Society to raise awareness of stewardship for the entire planet.

“We bring the canoe to the people,” Kahalioumi said.

At the end of the year, he is set to be a crew member as Hokulea enters new territory: the Atlantic Ocean. Leg 16 of the worldwide trip is from Cape Town, South Africa, to Fernando de Noronha, Brazil.

When he’s not on board a voyaging canoe (this summer he also helped bring Hikianalia, a canoe equipped with “all the bells and whistles” back to Hawaii), Kahalioumi is director of special programs for the county’s parks and recreation department. He manages a number of programs at Richardson Ocean Center intended to get the community, particularly kids, involved in the principles of malama aina.

In the summer, the center hosts the Ike Kai (Knowledge of the Ocean) program, a week-long session tapping into Hokulea’s worldwide journey.

“We use the principles of this big voyage … and then get them excited about using the ocean as their own resource,” Kahalioumi said. He’s able to share the navigation techniques he learned on the voyages — using the Big Island as a reference point is easy because of Mauna Kea’s height and Kilauea’s glow, for example — and get the next generation interested in their culture and history.

“All of my sailing background came in my adult years,” he said (Kahalioumi was a paddler throughout high school as well as a champion bodyboarder). “Now these kids have the opportunity to find this resource when they’re young.”

This year, Ike Kai has a new program for fall intersession.

Registration runs through Sept. 30, with the program taking place Oct. 5-7.

“I get excited when I see these kids get excited about the ocean,” Kahalioumi said.

He always tells groups about his experiences sailing the South Pacific, how the currency on some of the islands he went to is “not the money you have in your pocket, it’s the power of the ocean and the land.”

“That’s big, that woke me up,” he said. “They don’t have a port; you can’t bring these big container ships in with supplies.”

He tells the kids about the importance of pre-voyage training and preparation, how the canoe sailors make sure all of their responsibilities on land are taken care of before they leave port.

“Sailing is a mental thing,” Kahalioumi said. “When you’re out in the middle of the ocean, once you start thinking about all the stuff you should have done … no good.”

When Kahalioumi was on Oahu 19 years ago, he was at something of a crossroads, having moved there to make changes in his life. Hokulea, and sailing, did just that.

“Mother Nature is the greatest therapist,” he said.

For more information about the fall Ike Kai program, contact Lindsey Iyo at 961-8732 or Kahalioumi at 315-6380.

Email Ivy Ashe at iashe@hawaiitribune-herald.com.