With the Iosepa scheduled to depart on May 23, 2016, the crew is learning about the creation of the canoe, its gospel-centered mission, and the hard work it will take to make it through the voyage.
In the 1970s, the movement to preserve the Hawaiian legacy by reconstructing ancient canoes started with the building of the canoe Hokulea.
The Polynesian Voyaging Society “brought back the ancient way of voyaging,” said BYU–Hawaii alumna and crew member Berit Gatoloai from Germany.
Soon, institutions and clubs wanted to follow the example of The Polynesian Voyaging Society, said master carver Kawika Eskaran. It was no different with the BYU–Hawaii Hawaiian Studies Department. In the mid 1990s, the department, led by Uncle Bill Wallace, launched a project to build a canoe in the year 2000.
In March of 2001, Eskaran, the master carver and captain for the upcoming voyage, together with Kuione Pulotu from Tonga, carver for the Tongan royal family, started to work on the seven massive logs delivered several months before, said Eskaran.
“As we were building, people were skeptical,” said Eskaran. Normally a canoe of this size has a building process from five to 20 years. People criticized the carvers, saying the wood was too heavy and the canoe would sink as soon as it would hit the water, Eskaran recalled.
Nevertheless, the hand of the Lord was over the project. “Kuione and I would say prayers every day before we started work. We were looking for guidance and help. There were so many times when problems were posed to us and we didn’t know how to figure it out,” said Eskaran. Dreams, visions, miraculous guidance and help of ancestors also accompanied the construction, he said.
After two months, as the canoe started to take shape, there was a huge stir, according to Eskaran. Newspaper and television stations wanted to cover the process of construction.
Berit Gatoloai said, “Students and community members and even people from all over the island... the other islands and the mainland, came together to help.”
Eskaran shared the challenge of the bent crossbeams bearing the deck and connecting the two hulls. They chose to make seven beams, representing the seven dispensations of the gospel. When they only had enough material for one attempt, suddenly an old teacher of Eskaran, a retired canoe builder in his 80s, showed up and was there to assist them.
After the astonishingly short time of eight months, the canoe was finished. “It was a miracle,” said Eskaran. “Totally unheard of.”
Eskaran explained the many symbols the canoe carries, and its special mission to serve, teach and testify of the gospel to all who come in contact with it. “The hull on the right hand side, the male side, the side of strength, represents Lehi. On the left hand side, the side of nurturing, the side closer to the heart, you have Sariah.” Lehi and Sariah are people in the Book of Mormon.
“You have this duality in all things. Once the two were joined with the beams, a new name was given to the canoe: Joseph, or Iosepa, the son born to Lehi and Sariah in the wilderness.”
He continued, “All the major pieces on the canoe bear names of individuals or things in church history that will allow us to tell a story wherever we dock. The canoe becomes a missionary companion so we can open up dialogue and talk about the Church.”
Since the beginning of the Fall 2015 Semester, the 11 crew members, comprised of students from various countries, have been working every day to prepare the canoe for the journey, while they prepare themselves as well.
“We have to get used to being out the whole day in the sun,” said Berit Gatoloai. She said the students work outside from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. with only a single two-hour break for five days a week. “The past weeks have been a physical, mental and spiritual preparation,” she said.
Berit Gatoloai’s husband, Laauli Gatoloai, a junior majoring in graphic design from New Zealand, had a similar experience. “I thought this was going to be more a physical and mental journey, but as I have gotten deeper into it, I have come to realize it is more of a spiritual learning and growth. A lot of people look at the Iosepa and just see a canoe you sail around on, have fun and all these cool experiences. I was one of them. As I have worked with the Iosepa and learned about its proper mission, I have come to understand that it is a missionary companion.”
Pi’ilani Watson, a junior majoring in business from Maui, lamented not really being raised in her culture. Throughout high school, she said she always wanted to get in touch with her Hawaiian roots. Working on the Iosepa has helped her to make this long-held wish a reality. “It is really important to me to preserve this culture now that I have gotten to know what it is. I get to share it with all the tourists who come visit.”
Eskaran said the Iosepa is very different from other canoes, which are meant for travel. The Iosepa’s goal is to provide service to the islands. Once the crew docks, they look for opportunities to serve. “I know in the past they have helped, for example, to put away Kiawe trees and dig out wells for spring water,” said Watson.
Berit Gatoloai said, “Overall, the Iosepa has changed my attitude about my everyday life, which is pretty amazing, but it is the purpose of the Iosepa to change our habits. It has changed me to work with purpose every day.”
Watson was affected in a similar way. “I have gained a deeper love for my ancestors,” she said. “Being around the Iosepa has made me more spiritual. Uncle Kawika even says Iosepa is a spirit. We have to connect with him. We learn to talk to him. We have to be one with him.”
Eskaran said, “I have told my students that if they come and all they learn is to sail, then I have failed. Being on this journey sets you up for life. You will learn a work ethic second to none. You will be worked to the point where you feel like you are going to die.”
He said such work is necessary for survival on the ocean. “If we are in a storm and we need all hands on deck and the storm continues for 24 hours, 48 hours or longer, they have to stand without sleep and do it so we all can survive it. I have done that, but it is not easy.”
“In about every sail we have, there is a young man and a young woman who will find each other,” he said. “In those storms, the young man will see the young woman rise to the occasion. When most guys would be cowering and hide, some of the girls are just magnificent. They will be steering in the huge waves and being blasted by all of it. He will see that girl and say, ‘That is the kind of wife I want to have. That is the kind of girl I want to have raise my children.’ And vice versa.
“Everything you bring out there will be magnified 10 times. If you are lazy, it will show. If you are a man of steel, it will show, too.”
Eskaran continued, “You can get the gospel in the classroom in a Book of Mormon class,” he said, “but when you are out there on the ocean with nothing there but you and your Maker, that’s where you really can put things into proper perspective and get hands-on. Miraculous things have happened. When people were injured, we have given priesthood blessings on the canoe. When the weather worsened, they have prayed storms away.”
Laauli Gatoloai said, “We are about 70 to 80 percent ready. We only have to do a few touchups at the bottom and refurbish it. It took a bit of a beating on the last voyage.”