In just over a week, Prince Jonah Kūhiō Kalanianaʻole’s 40-foot racing canoe will return to the water for the first time in more than a decade, according to representatives of the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum. The launch of the six-seat racing canoe, called the A’a, will take place at sunrise on Saturday, Nov. 8, at Ke’ehi Lagoon Beach Park.
“They don’t exist for display,” said Billy Richards, Polynesian Voyaging Society navigator and Bishop Museum board member, referring to waʻa, or canoes, made of koa, like the Aʻa, in a written statement. “They exist for the ocean.”
The event starts at 6 a.m. with a sunrise ceremony honoring A’a and its return to the water. There will be canoes from racing and voyaging clubs and organizations. At 7 a.m. there will be a paddle out. From 8 a.m. until noon there will be talk story and oral history sessions with master canoe carvers and koa canoe stewards. This event is free and open to the public.
Aʻa was crafted in 1902 by Henry Weeks in Kailua-Kona on Hawai’i Island. After Prince Kūhiō died, Aʻa was gifted to the Bishop Museum as part of the Kapiʻolani-Kalanianaʻole Collection, named in honor of both Prince Kūhiō Kalanianaʻole and Queen Kapiʻolani, in 1923.
“The A’a marked the beginning of organized canoe racing in Hawaiʻi, and it’s also a link to our past,” said Tay Perry, a master canoe builder who led the recent repairs to the Aʻa, in a written statement.
Recently, Aʻa was featured in Bishop Museum’s J. M. Long Gallery as part of the exhibition, “Kū a Lanakila! Expressions of Sovereignty in Early Territorial Hawaiʻi, 1900-1920.”
Recent repairs to the Aʻa were made possible by the Friends of Hōkūleʻan and Hawaiʻiloa, Tay Perry, Ryan Olivares and the Dowsett ʻOhana. Get more information and RSVP for the free event.
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Katie Helland can be reached at katie@alohastatedaily.com.
