Hawaiian Canoe Club’s recreational division is offering “OCEAN-C”, a cultural/canoe experience in two parts:
- An educational presentation on the history of the Polynesian ocean culture that developed over 3000 years ago and spread to the Hawaiian islands around 300 AD.
- An outrigger canoe paddling tour with paddling instruction, and an overview of the history of Kahului Harbor.
Cultural Presentation:
Sitting under the thatched roof of a traditional hale, you will learn about the formation of the Hawaiian islands and their discovery by Polynesian voyagers. Consider an ancient, seafaring culture lacking clay or iron, who developed canoes and navigational techniques to cross the open Pacific, 600 years before Europeans started open ocean sailing. It is a different perspective on human perseverance not found elsewhere.
- Descriptions of ancient voyaging canoes used by Polynesians to travel to remote Hawaiian Islands.
- How to Navigate without instruments using the star compass and cues from nature.
- What is the Hawaiian Hot Spot that created volcanoes that form the Hawaiian Islands.
- Learn about modern day canoeing in the islands, the founding of Hawaiian Canoe Club in 1960 for Hawaiian kids, and the evolution of the kids Kamali’i program to include community service, educational and cultural programs.
Outrigger Canoeing:
After a paddling lesson and learning paddling nomenclature, experience one hour of Outrigger Canoe Paddling, with two water stops which include discussions of Old Maui.
Join award winning Hawaiian Canoe Club paddlers, in double-hulled outrigger canoes. We provide the equipment, training, and the expertise.
- From the ocean, look back to the shore in Kahului harbor where King Kamehameha the Great landed his war canoes in 1790. To the right are the west Maui Mountains. He led his warriors into Iao Valley where he began his quest to unify the islands under one rule.
- Check out the harbor built on the windward north shore of Maui to accommodate the sugar industry. This was the terminus of the Kahului railroad where sugar was transferred from railroad cars to ships.
- Get a spectacular view of the dormant Haleakala volcano. Its elevation, from sea level, is 10,025′; from its base it measures 19,680′. It is the most massive mountain in the world measuring 33 miles x 20 miles.