The two hulls of the sailing canoe Namahoe are done except for their paint job, but it still may be late summer before the craft tastes saltwater. “We still got a long ways to go,” said John Kruse, who is
The two hulls of the sailing canoe Namahoe are done except for their paint job, but it still may be late summer before the craft tastes saltwater.
“We still got a long ways to go,” said John Kruse, who is president of Na Kalai Wa’a ‘o Kaua’i but prefers to simply be called a “builder.”
Members of the nonprofit association are spearheading the building of the voyaging canoe.
The hulls will soon be moved down to a Nawiliwili Harbor site being provided by state Department of Transportation Harbors Division officials, but that is mostly to make room at the Halehaka construction site for the building of masts, decking, booms, gunnels and manus that include 24-foot-long beams of laminated Douglas fir that will be used on the canoe.
“Namahoe” means “the twins” in Hawaiian.
Kauai Commercial Company crews may facilitate the movement of the hulls, which might not take place until late February or early March, Kruse said.
“By summer, we’ll still be plugging along,” said Kruse, adding that both monetary and physical support are still needed to get the craft seaworthy.
Groups from Kaua’i Community College work on the canoe each Tuesday and Thursday from 4:30 p.m. to 9 p.m., and other volunteers arrive each Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The KCC students are in Dennis Chun’s Hawaiian studies class, and from Dr. Marshall Mock’s physics and astronomy classes.
The site is along Halehaka Road just west of the Puako subdivision near Puakea Golf Course and Kukui Grove Center.
Kruse says it’s best to just show up on weekends at the site if you’re interested in helping.
Volunteers from the Rotary Club of Kapaa showed up recently, and cleaned up the yard, which was promptly trashed later by the high winds that swept across the island, he said.
When there is fiberglass work to be done, volunteers don protective suits affectionately known as “monkey suits” or “itchy suits,” which are worn for about a week and then become so smelly that they are discarded, Kruse laughed.
Associate Editor Paul C. Curtis may be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 224) or mailto:pcurtis@pulitzer.net.
