Wa’a, Wind, and Water May 7, 2010

“Nakoa Prejean talked story to a circle of rapt listeners in the shade of coconut palms, describing his voyages on a canoe from Hawai‘i to the ancestral home islands in Tahiti and the Marquesas. Prejean, whose family founded the Hawai’i Sailing Canoe Association (HCSA) in 1987, learned traditional navigation but also holds a United States Coast Guard captain’s license. He crews on the Waipualele (flying water flower) for HSCA races, builds outrigger sailing canoes, and passes his knowledge on through the Partners in Development Foundation, where young sailors-in-training learn marine biology, ethnobotany, and other Hawaiian ocean knowledge. ‘We try to teach them the interconnectedness of it all,’ Prejean told the group…”

Partners In Development Foundation Cultural Consultant staff member, Nakoa Prejean shares his sailing canoe experience in an article written for the American Automobile Association Magazine.