“We’re in continual process of crew training. And what we did today was kind of break up into our watches and the purpose for that was to familiarize ourselves and build that cohesiveness,” said Kealoha Hoe, a watch captain on Hikianalia.
Led by their watch captains, each group went over the protocol and desires laid out by pwo navigator Bruce Blankenfeld, who will captain Hikianalia on her voyage to Tahiti.
“He ʻokoʻa kēlā me kēia kāpena, ʻo kēia kāpena, ʻo kēlā kāpena,ʻoiai, ke holo mākou me ʻanakala Bruce, mamake ʻo ia i kekahi ʻano e hana ai. No laila, ʻo ia kekahi mea e hoʻoponopono, e hoʻomaʻamaʻa ai. (Each captain is very different. Since Uncle Bruce will be our captain, we’ll need to learn a standardized routine),” said watch captain Kaleo Wong.
“There’s definitely a chain of command on board. Ultimately, you have the captain, the po’o, he’s the luna to whatever happens on board. Then you have your watch captains, who are like the “in-between” guys, and they manage a group of people. For myself, I’m a watch captain. You’ve got Hauʻoli Smith and Kaleo Wong; they’re our watch captains too. It’s our job to relieve kuleana from the captain and distribute the work among our individual crew members.
“Eia nō kākou, ke hui nei, a kamaʻīlio no ka mea nui, ka mea iki, a no ke kaula likeʻole o ka waʻa, a no ka holo ʻana ma ka moana nui a kea. (We’re talking about the larger goals, as well as the small details in crewing and prepping for our voyage),” said Kaleo.
“Docking lines and actually heaving lines, properly doing that. Looking at our dock lines, looking at safety gear, and how to deploy things. So we’re rotating in different areas and familiarizing ourselves to get more comfortable, more ma’a on board, so that when we do sail, everybody can be on the same level,” said Kealoha.
“Kealoha was showing us how to build a towline and he was saying that we have two different places that we hold. So the first coil that you saw, that’s what we’re trying to aim towards the person, so they can grab it. And the other coil that we’re holding, that’s supposed to pay out for accuracy, then just to let it go. Afterwards, Kealoha was showing us how to standardize things so that every time we get on watch, or we leave our watch, the next crew, or the crew before, there’s unity,” said crew member Linda Furuto.
“It’s managed chaos. That’s just the nature of it. So everybody has to be accountable, not only for themselves but also for the safety of the rest of the crew members,” said Kealoha.
“ʻO kēia puʻulu, e hoihoi ana nō. E maikaʻi ana, he wā e aʻo aku, he wā e aʻo mai, a kaʻanalike mākou a pau iā mākou e holo ana. (This group will be very interesting. And it will be a great learning and sharing opportunity that will help us all to grow),” said Kaleo.