Voyagers near completion of Kauai canoe ADVERTISING Voyagers near completion of Kauai canoe LIHUE, Kauai (AP) — Three experienced voyagers from Kauai who set out nearly two decades ago to build the island’s first long-distance Polynesian canoe in more than
Voyagers near completion of Kauai canoe
LIHUE, Kauai (AP) — Three experienced voyagers from Kauai who set out nearly two decades ago to build the island’s first long-distance Polynesian canoe in more than a century are almost ready to set sail.
John Kruse, Dennis Chun and Pat Aiu have been working on Namahoe for 17 years with the help of grant money, volunteers and engineers. Chun said Kauai’s canoe, which is longer than the other islands’ canoes at more than 70 feet, is about 80 percent complete.
“You put your soul in the canoe,” said Kaimi Hermosura, who has been helping with the project for years. “Everything we made from scratch.”
Once Namahoe is finished, voyagers plan to embark on a journey around the island. Then, Chun said, there will be inter-island trips during which the crew will “show off” Kauai’s canoe. The goal is to eventually sail Namahoe to Tahiti to coincide with the arrival of Hokulea, marking the end of a three-year voyage around the world.
Hokulea is the Polynesian Voyaging Society’s legendary sailing canoe, which left Hawaii for its around-the-world journey last year. The crew recently reached South Africa, the halfway point of their trip.
Chun, a longtime Hokulea crew member, said he and other volunteers who have been committed to the Kauai project over the years are not looking to replace Hokulea. Instead, he said, they want to provide the same experience for people of Kauai.
“You always have skeptics,” Chun said. “People say, ‘Why? We already have Hokulea.’ But where is Hokulea? It’s not here. How often is Hokulea on Kauai? Not very often.”
Kauai is the only county in the state that does not have its own sailing vessel.
Namahoe is the Hawaiian term for the constellation Gemini, which serves as one of the navigation points between Oahu and Kauai.
Dallas-Hawaii flight diverts to LAX after mechanical warning
LOS ANGELES (AP) — American Airlines says a flight from Dallas to Honolulu made an emergency landing in Los Angeles after a mechanical warning on the Boeing 767.
Spokesman Andrew Christie says Flight 123 landed safely Tuesday morning at Los Angeles International Airport.
He says all 135 passengers would continue to Hawaii on another aircraft.
Christie didn’t specify what the mechanical warning was.
Japan’s defense minister meeting military leaders in Hawaii
HONOLULU (AP) — Japan’s defense minister is in Hawaii to meet with senior U.S. military officials for the first time since his country’s parliament approved legislation loosening post-World War II constraints on its military.
Defense Minister Gen Nakatani was scheduled to meet with U.S. Pacific Command commander Adm. Harry Harris on Tuesday. The Pacific Command said Nakatani’s discussions were expected to cover security in the region, including in the East and South China Seas. Ballistic missile defense was also on the agenda.
Japan’s parliament passed legislation in September allowing Tokyo’s military to defend its allies even when the country isn’t under attack. The law will enable Japan to work more closely with the U.S. and other nations.
Ralph Cossa, president of the Pacific Forum CSIS think tank, said the two allies need to determine how the law will work when it comes to operations. That’s likely to be a topic of Nakatani’s discussions in Hawaii, he said.
“People are still curious as to what the two are going to be able to do together,” Cossa said.
Ballistic missile defense is one area where increased cooperation is expected.
“With the new legislation, presumably now if the North Koreans shoot a missile toward Hawaii, and the Japanese detect it, they can shoot it down. Before they just had to just sort of wave to it as it went by,” Cossa said.
Japan has invested heavily in missile defenses since North Korea test-fired a ballistic missile over Japan’s main island in 1998. Nakatani’s schedule in Hawaii included a visit to the Sea-based X-band Radar — which is used to detect ballistic missiles — at Pearl Harbor.
The new law would also allow Japan to help defend a U.S. ship under attack. The U.S. has long been able to help a Japanese ship in the same situation, but Japan’s prohibitions against collective self-defense didn’t allow the reverse.
The legislation sparked protests and debate in Japan about whether Tokyo should shift away from its pacifist ways to face growing security challenges.
The law’s supporters say Japan’s neighborhood has become a more dangerous place, citing North Korean missile tests and Chinese challenges to Japanese sovereignty over remote islands.
They say Japan’s military needs to be more active to deter China and North Korea and help preserve Japan’s peace and prosperity. A major goal of the legislation is to allow the military to work more closely with its main ally, the United States, strengthening their joint capabilities.
