BYUH club and Lahui o Ko‘olauloa are open for anyone interested to experience the local pastime of racing canoes
From the times of ancient Hawaiians to modern day, canoes continue to glide across the waters surrounding the Hawaiian island chain. While canoeing is a sport many are familiar with, many are unaware of its rich history and the culture behind the practice within the Hawaiian Islands.
“Nowadays it’s more recreational, but before it was a part of traveling, fishing and all different aspects of living,” said Sage Chee, a Hauula community member of more than 60 years, pastor and member of Lahui o Ko‘olauloa, an outrigger canoe club based in Kahana Bay. Chee said he learned paddling at a young age as a family activity at Kahana Bay. He explained canoeing as being “always part of Hawaiian culture.”
To share the activity he once did with his family, Chee is now a kumu or teacher of canoeing. He coaches canoe paddling at Kahuku High School and helps the students of BYU–Hawaii’s Lahui Vaa Club, where students learn to paddle canoes. “Lahui” is the Hawaiian word for “race, tribe, people” as well as “to assemble, gather together,” according to the UH Hilo website.
Canoe culture
Teal Akina, an 18-year-old student at Kahuku High School, is one of the students who Chee has coached in canoe paddling. He has also assisted canoe meets with Lahui Vaa. “I’ve been doing paddling for five or six years now,” he said. “It’s a cultural thing.”
Akina continued, “When I get kids, I want them to know how to paddle, so this cultural thing can keep going. If I were to stop … it would be hard to [start] back up again [for future generations].”
Chee described the lahui in which he works, both Lahui o Koolauloa and Lahui Vaa, as a community of canoers including past, present and future generations. He said Lahui Vaa is an opportunity he was grateful for. “It’s our chance to get the word out about our culture, our family,” he said. “That’s the way we can get the message out about … the culture of paddling.”
Differently, Alexa Milad, a sophomore from Vancouver, Canada, majoring in intercultural peacebuilding and elementary education, said paddling was “a really big thing” for her growing up due to Vancouver being on the coastline, but it was not “a cultural thing.”
Milad said she was introduced to the culture of canoeing when she met and spent time with Chee in Hawaii. She said they met during a service project during her first semester on campus. “We carried vaas [canoes]. We cleaned them and everything, and he took us to the water,” she said.
Her experiences with Chee and working with the canoes, sparked her love of traditional Hawaiian canoes. “I just thought it was the coolest thing,” she said. “The culture is beautiful, [and] the meaning behind it is amazing.”
Part of Chee’s activities with Lahui o Koolauloa is canoe racing. Some races even go between islands, he said. While training for races can be long and intense, he encouraged Lahui Vaa club members to give it a try.
A kumu’s influence
Chee’s influence reached deep for those with whom he taught and shared the canoe culture. At Chee’s suggestion, Milad restarted the Lahui Vaa Club at BYUH, which had previously been disbanded. “Since [restarting Lahui Vaa], I’ve just been learning from him,” she said. “Working with Uncle Sage [Chee] has been the biggest blessing. He exposed me to a side of Hawaii that I never would have had access to without him.”
The canoes the Lahui Vaa Club uses to paddle even belong to Chee, Milad said. “[The club] wouldn’t exist without him.” Milad was the president of Lahui Vaa in Winter Semester 2022 and is currently the vice president of activities.
Additionally, Akina credited Chee for introducing him to paddling when he was an elementary school student. He said he has participated with and even taught canoers much older than him. Six years ago, Akina won a state championship canoe race in Maui with a mixed male-female crew.
“If you’re not doing anything, you should come paddle,” he said. “The more people come, the more we share. The more we share, the more [canoe culture] is spread,” Akina encouraged students.