More than heritage or curiosity, three BYU–Hawaii students share their unexpected moments and inner promptings led them to sail with Iosepa
Being placed in a class outside the major, hearing a friend’s heartfelt testimony and getting lost at the Polynesian Cultural Center (PCC) were three very different moments that tied Moanilehuakaualeima‘ohulani Shimose, McIntyre Horito, and Yu Bruna Yamamoto to Iosepa. Yet each student felt something similar: an intangible spirit surrounding the canoe that drew them in. Through sailing with Iosepa, the students said they found healing, let go of pride and stepped into something deeper: a journey not only across the ocean but into identity and connection.
Waves that mended
Yu Bruna Yamamoto said her story started in her academic advisor’s office. A senior in social work from Brazil, Yamamoto shared her advisor registered her for the Malama Wa‘a – Sea Responsibility (HWST 380) class or the “Iosepa class” for Winter 2025 to balance out the busy semester of Culture Night. The class was initially just an elective to fill credits—unrelated to her major or graduation plan—but it became something much more. “I started learning how to heal from Iosepa. I got a lot of encouragement from that class,” she said.
That moment of enlightenment, combined with support from her classmates, gave Yamamoto the courage to apply for her once-in-a-lifetime sailing opportunity, she shared. As non-Polynesian, Yamamoto said she has been wanting to understand the roots of Polynesian culture. Through Iosepa, she said she began to see how the canoe served as a bridge, connecting people not only to the ocean but to their ancestors. Interestingly, she shared her ancestors also sailed a boat from Japan to Brazil in search of a better life. She said her ancestors’ relentless effort to escape poverty allowed future generations like her to exist. In a similar way, she said,
Polynesians placed their trust in themselves to cross the ocean.
“PCC is proof that they found islands because we all have all these cultures today,” she explained.
For Yamamoto, Iosepa marked a new beginning as it was an “experience for me to leave my past behind …, like my sadness, my trauma and to keep going,” she shared. She spoke with admiration about the mental strength it must have taken for ancient wayfinders to explore without modern tools like phones, maps, or electricity. “They needed to be connected to the ocean and to God to trust themselves that they could find islands,” she continued. That same trust, she said, helped her shed limitations she had placed on herself. “As they did everything from their mind, so can we. We have so much power within us.”
Sailing with an open heart
Horito, a Hawaiian studies senior from Utah and Hau‘ula, first helped with Iosepa alongside his father in Summer 2023. However, his heart was not in it until his friend’s testimony changed everything. “My friend and a BYUH alumnus, Tai Gonzales, shared about caring for the canoe and his feelings connected to it. It brought him closer to God,” Horito shared. This conversation transformed Horito’s perspective on coming to Iosepa and encouraged him to come “every single time” for all the training, starting Jan. 2024. As the concept of Hōkūleʻa or double-hulled canoe is also familiar to Horito, it pushed him to further explore its impactful foundational sailing.
Unlike other wa‘a or canoe, Iosepa carries “a special spirit” that connects him to both culture and God.
“Iosepa’s mission is not just to serve as a floating classroom, but to help gather Israel. It makes me want to be a better person and grow closer to God,” he continued. As much as Horito wants to connect more with his Hawaiian heritage through sailing with other wa‘a, he said he would always be grounded to Iosepa. Horito said Iosepa helped him build meaningful connections and let go of pride. When he arrived in Moloka‘i and Maui, he was able to serve the community. “I knew people by name there and considered them my family.” On one hand, Iosepa humbled him, whether by other crew members or his experiences on the water. “We prioritize safety at the utmost level. We have a very high standard, so that requires a lot of humility,” he explained.
From lost to lead
Shimose, a freshman of anthropology and Hawaiian Studies from Hilo, Hawaii, shared her first encounter with Iosepa was “accidental”. While trying to find the PCC’s sustainability farm, she got lost and instead arrived at the Iosepa Learning Center. She said, “There is something special about [Iosepa], so I kept coming back every Wednesday, the work day, to volunteer for Iosepa and eventually sail with it.”
On her first inter-island sail with Iosepa, from Moloka‘i to Lāhainā, Shimose surprised even herself. Though she’d grown up around voyaging through her father, she’d never truly connected with it until she started tying knots on deck. “This is so cool. I knew how to do it without being told. I get it now.” After the voyage, Shimose said she playfully teased her father, whose furthest voyage had only been to Kona, Hawaii. “I beat you, Dad,” she shared with a laugh.
Sailing across the seas feels like a combination of
Shimose’s entire life, she said. Her deep connection to Hawaiian culture—growing up in a Hawaiian immersion school, speaking Hawaiian fluently and dancing hula since she was three—prepared her naturally for voyaging. “So for wa‘a, it’s like all of these different parts of my life, blending them altogether.”
Voyaging’s living truth
To describe the overall sailing experience, Yamamoto shared a quote from the Iosepa devotional on June 22, 2025:
People who were related to Iosepa were meant to be related to it, to be on Iosepa and to help Iosepa.
She said it was a special connection she hadn’t realized she’d made until after the voyage.For Shimose, voyaging transformed her perception of Polynesian voyaging. What once seemed like an “old tradition done by my ancestors is now something I can do too. It’s not just in the past; it’s in the present.” She added she believes if people put in the effort to understand this heritage, they’ll see the results.
Meanwhile, this voyage confirmed what Horito learned from a kupuna in FestPAC Hawai’i 2024. The ocean never divided us, but it actually connects us, recalled Horito. He continued, though there are many differences among Polynesian and Austronesian peoples, which he referred to as cousins, “We’re able to come together and celebrate through voyaging.”