‘A Special Homecoming:’ Canoe Iosepa Visits Molokai

Photo by Catherine Cluett Pactol

By Catherine Cluett Pactol

Photo by Catherine Cluett Pactol

Over the past week, Molokai hosted some special guests: a double hulled canoe named Iosepa and its crew. Arriving last week Wednesday after a 12-hour sail from Oahu, Iosepa was docked at Kaunakakai Wharf for about a week while community members were welcomed on board and its crew did outreach on the island.
The nine-ton vessel is made out of solid wood, lashed together with no nails or screws. Slightly smaller than voyaging canoe Hokule’a’s 64-foot length, Iosepa is 57 feet long and sailed by a crew of 16.
Crewmember Chris Muhlestein said because of the wa’a’s weight, Iosepa has two steering blades that are manned by several crewmembers on each blade during channel crossings.
“We’re switching crews in and out, in and out, and takes full body weight, full energy to steer this thing,” he said.
Many of the crewmembers have Molokai ties, as does Iosepa itself.
The canoe was built in 2001 as the dream of Bill Wallace, who is from Molokai, said the vessel’s captain, Mark Ellis. Ellis also has Molokai roots; his mom and her ‘ohana are from Ho’olehua.
“[Wallace] was seeing Hokule’a and how much good Hokule’a was doing,” explained Ellis. “He wanted [a canoe] to be a floating classroom for the students of Brigham Young University, Hawaii Campus. And so that was the main inspiration, he wanted to have a floating classroom that would perpetuate the ways of our ancestors.”
Ellis said Iosepa was built by master carvers, with the help of BYU students and community members who worked around the clock to complete it in just nine months.
The canoe is owned by BYU Hawaii and housed and maintained at the Polynesian Cultural Center.
Iosepa had been out of the water for about eight years for maintenance and planning, said Ellis. Last year, they sailed the vessel around Oahu to participate in the Festival of Pacific Arts and Culture.
Now, it’s on a month-long voyage between Oahu, Molokai and Maui.
The crew is a mix of BYU students and community members.
For crewmember and Molokai boy Rafael Adolpho, it’s been a special experience to bring Iosepa home.
“This is the dream come true,” he explained. “When Iosepa first came to Molokai, back in 2011 or 2012, I was here at paddling practice [at the wharf] when they came in. And I remember seeing the canoe, and it’s like, ‘oh, I want to sail on those canoes.’ I didn’t know the name of the canoe at the time, and so it was always been a dream of mine.”
He said he attended BYU Hawaii in 2019. After he served on a mission and got married, Adolpho started volunteering to help out with the canoe while it was dry-docked, and learned to sail.
During Iosepa’s week-long visit on Molokai, crew members hosted community members for tours on board, shared an educational visit at Kualapu’u School and volunteered in Halawa Valley.
“Being able to go to Kualapu’u, where I went to school and give back teaching about voyaging and give canoe tours to family members and friends… It really means a lot, and it’s really touching to be back here again,” Adolpho said.
For Ellis, the Molokai visit was a memorable one.
“It’s kind of a special homecoming, bringing the not only the canoe, but also bringing crew members back to this ‘aina,” he said.
After their Molokai visit, Iosepa is headed to Lahaina, then back to Oahu for similar community engagement and outreach.