William Kauaiwiulaokalani Wallace III, Director of the BYUH Hawaiian Studies program who everybody calls "Uncle Bill," recalls the notion of creating a Hawaiian sailing canoe first struck him as a young teenager when he would help the kupuna or elders in the Polynesian Cultural Center's then-new Hawaiian village.
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(Left-right): "Uncle Bill" Wallace and master carvers Kawika Eskaran and Sione Tuione Pulotu |
Two years after BYU-Hawaii launched its Hawaiian Studies program in 1999, with the help of a grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, two master carvers — Sione Tuione Pulotu, a Tongan and long-time resident of Laie where the PCC is located; and Kawika Eskaran, a Hawaiian — began the nine-month process of creating the Iosepa from seven large dakua or tropical hardwood logs imported from Fiji. Traditionally, such a canoe might have been carved from the beautiful Hawaiian koa wood, but no suitably sized logs were available.
They created a 57-foot long (17.4m) traditionally shaped Hawaiian wa'a kaulua or twin-hulled voyaging canoe, with a single pe'a or Polynesian "crab claw" sail plus a jib and two large steering oars. All provisions and gear are either stored on deck or in the hulls. Bunks are also set into the hulls, although the crew of about 12 optimum must sleep in shifts. Crewmembers, who are generally limited to one small sea bag of personal possessions, wear safety harnesses tethered to the canoe when it's on the water. An escort vessel capable of towing the canoe accompanies its voyages, but does not assist in navigation.
Uncle Bill Wallace has said the name of the canoe, Iosepa — which means Joseph in Hawaiian — came to him in a dream of his grandfather who, along with other Hawaiians and Polynesians, migrated from Hawaii in 1889 to the high desert of Skull Valley, Utah, and established a community there that thrived for the next approximately 30 years. They named it Iosepa after a revered Latter-day Saint leader, Joseph F. Smith, who had served several times as a Mormon missionary in Hawaii, as well as for Joseph, the 12th son of Israel, in the Old Testament.
Hundreds of community residents and others participated in the process, school groups and visiting Polynesian delegations stopped by, and over 3,000 thronged nearby Hukilau Beach on November 3, 2001, to participate in the Polynesian protocol, ceremonies and luau that marked the launching of Iosepa. Elder M. Russell Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and a great-grandson of Joseph F. Smith who is one of the canoe's namesakes, dedicated the Iosepa. Soon after, fundraising began to create a suitable home for the canoe, which was temporarily stored on the BYU-Hawaii campus until making its permanent berth in Halau Wa'a O Iosepa in June 2008.
Since its initial launch, the Iosepa — crewed by faculty and staff in BYUH's Hawaiian Studies program — has made sailing voyages along the Windward Oahu coast and to Kawaihae on the Island of Hawaii, home of the Hawaiian sailing canoe Makalii. The founders of the Makalii, who all trained on the sailing canoe Hokulea, as well as its sponsoring organization, Na Kalai Wa'a Moku o Hawai'i, have provided significant and ongoing training for the Iosepa crew and captains.
