5/17 (HST): The Hawaiian and Voyaging Communities Mourn the Loss of the Captain of Hokule’a’s First Voyage to Tahiti in 1976

Honolulu, HI - It is with heavy hearts that we announce the passing of Captain Elia Kawika David Ku’ualoha Kapahulehua. He passed at the Queen’s Medical Center at 7:20 this morning. He was 76 years old. Captain Kapahulehua led Hokule’a on her maiden voyage to Tahiti and back to Hawai’i in 1976. (See complete press release posted below.) Photo Left: Captain Kapahulehua on the '76 voyage. Photo by crewmember Dr. Ben Young, who sailed on the trip back to Hawai'i in 1976.

Photo Right: from “Pictures of a Lifetime, Photos by Kathryn Bender” Honolulu Star-Bulletin, Tuesday, December 28, 1999. Caption: "Aboard the Hokule'a, Kawika Kapahulehua chants a request to approach Te Ava Mo'a." Te Ava Mo'a is the sacred pass through the reef, leading to the marae of Taputapuatea, one of the most sacred in all of Polynesia, located on the island of Ra'iatea, in Tahiti Nui. Na Ohana Holo Moana: The Voyaging Families of the Vast Ocean / 1995 Voyage to Nukuhiva: "The voyage to the Marquesas in 1995 was not just about Hokule'a, but also the children of Hokule'a--Hawai'iloa and a third canoe from Hawai'i called Makali'i; two canoes from Rarotonga--Te 'Au Tonga and Takitumu; and Te 'Aurere, Hector Busby's canoe from Aotearoa. We all met to Tahitian canoes--Tahiti Nui and 'A'a Kahiki Nui--at a place called Taputapuatea, on the island of Ra'iatea--a place of great teaching in navigation, the most appropriate place to start this voyage that would take these canoes to the Marquesas Islands" (Nainoa Thompson). By the 1995 voyage to Nukuhiva, the fifth major voyage of Hokule'a, the revival of voyaging that Kawika played a leadship role in establishing had spread throughout Polynesia.

Nainoa Thompson, president of the Polynesian Voyaging Society and fellow crewmember on the return trip to Hawai’i 31 years ago, says “everyone in the voyaging family is saddened that our first captain to Tahiti has voyaged on. Kawika was the first captain of a double-hulled canoe to voyage from Hawai’i to Tahiti in 600 years. The success of that voyage was crucial to the future of Hokule’a, and Kawika was the perfect captain. Its success in finding Tahiti was monumental..." Photo Left: From the Honolulu Advertiser, Sunday, March 5, 2006. Caption: "Crew members and friends of the Hokule'a in February 1976, before its first voyage to Tahiti [in May 1976]: on hull, from left, Tommy Holmes, Abraham "Snake" Ah Hee, Nainoa Thompson, Keani Reiner, Sam Kalalau, Mel Kinney, Penny Rawlins, David Lewis. On central platform: Capt. Kawika Kapahulehua, John Kruse, Kimo Hugho, Billy Richards, Maka'ala Yates, Shorty Bertelmann, Ben Finney, and Vic Fageroos."

Captain Kapahulehua’s family extends their deepest aloha and appreciation for all the beautiful connections and prayers given him through the years. Services will be announced at a later time, and there will be a ceremony aboard Hokule'a upon her return from the voyage to Japan. For inquiries, contact family representative Ka'uhane
Lee at 239-1004, e-mail at kaonccenter@hawaii.rr.com; for more information go to www.maohifestivals.com. Photo Right: Hokule'a at Honolua Bay, Maui, the day before departing for Tahiti in 1976. Photo by crewmember Dr. Ben Young.

Captain Chad Baybayan will hold a prayer service in Hawaiian tonight on Hokule'a, in Fukuoka, Japan, to remember and honor Kawaika Kapahulehua's contributions to the voyaging 'ohana, Hokule'a, and the Hawaiian language. Mona Shintani, who is Kawika's nephew and who, like Kawika, also grew up on Ni'ihau, is reliving his uncle's passion for the sea, Hokule'a, and the Hawaiian language as a crew member on the current voyage. Photo Left: Mona Shintani, with crew members Moana Doi and Kaniela Akaka, Taiohae, Nukuhiva, Marquesas Islands, 1999. Mona was a crew member on the Voyage to Rapanui, when Hokule'a "closed the triangle," by reaching Polynesia's most isolated island, at the far southeastern corner of the Polynesian triangle and completing a 24-year journey to the major islands of Polynesia.

For more history of the voyages of Hokule'a, see the Polynesian Voyaging Society website, Voyages, From 1976.