Effective October 13, 2009, we were granted our United States 501c3 recognition. As you can imagine, this was a long time in development, relying on the tremendous efforts of our volunteer board and the many other volunteers who assisted us with the planning, legal, and accounting advice.

This makes our grant funding process much easier! We hope you will celebrate with us by making a donation to help preserve the art and culture of Polynesian canoeing. There are fewer and fewer in this age of technology who know about those precious skills of working the water and the wood that define so much of outrigger paddling. Many of us know it as a sport, but it is also transportation of bodies and minds to new places, new adventures, and new awareness of what can be.

Your support means Uncle Bobby can continue to teach our local youth, restore old and damaged koa canoes, and buy materials to continue his education and restoration activities. Let's paddle together!

Our Federal Tax ID number is 20-5395153.

You can donate safe and secure online via PayPal:

Mahalo to each of you who has been part of this growth and development of the Puakea Foundation of Hawaii.

The paddle workshop is going to be on
March 6th and 7th, 13th and 14th
Please read below for more info.
Don't miss this great opportunity to learn about paddle making and repairing!!!

We had a great day at the parade and won the COMMITTEE AWARD for BEST FLOAT!!
Check out our pictures:

Uncle Bobby's paddle workshops are a rich experience in learning about Hawaiian culture, tropical woods, and the ocean sport of outrigger canoeing.

Learn how paddles are made and repaired. Enjoy the hands-on experience of finishing your own paddle to take home. Makes a great Christmas gift for your family members and friends!

Dates: March 6th and 7th, 13th and 14th
Time: 9 am-3 pm
Location:  Uncle Bobby's home in Kaneohe. Directions will be sent to you after you register.
Cost:  $325.OO (Use PayPal button below.)

Please be sure to join our email list in the right column so we can contact you when the new dates are confirmed!

Workshop fee includes membership to the Puakea Foundation and your own hand-made paddle. This program is limited to 10 people so act soon!

Check out our photos on Flickr.

Register Here

Member $325.00Non-member $350.00

Aloha all!!

Another successful Na Wahine race!!  This year was almost an all CALIFORNIA womens crew.  What a special group of women they are.  Mahalo Nui Loa to you all !!  This year was a "steerswomen" race and we were blessed to have a women from Long Beach..( Margee Ralston) who was raised in Lanikai help with that chore, we had a California "icon" (Elaine Kelly) learn about our Hawaiian waters, and do a great job!..and then Dottie..our Hawaii born women who reluctantly took the helm and  also did an outstanding job. They also had great "back-up" in our paddlers by the names of Suzee, leslie, sandra, lois, clair, Hedy, Raylene, Jan. The race was filled with challenges in the  6 to 10 foot swells  but we survived with a new found respect  for the ocean and a 2nd place medal!!

Mahalo Nui Loa to you all,

Alana Burrows

Show your support for Uncle John Kekua by purchasing a small wristband or a Moku O Hawaii T-shirt.

Mahalo!

The paddle workshop was a great success, everyone has a new paddle for the upcoming paddling season.

There were 4 attendees, men and women, from 9 to 60 years old, so each person was given lots of attention!

from pats kitchen..... courtesy of Agnes Bakery  hot coffee cake!!!

Uncle Bobby's paddle workshops are rich experiences in learning about Hawaiian culture, in tropical woods, and in the ocean sport of outrigger canoeing. There is room for 10 participants.

Dates: Jan 10-11, 17-18, 24-25, 31-Feb 1 (2009)
Time: 8 am - 12 noon
Location: Bobby's home in Kaneʻohe; directions will be sent after you register
Price: $325 for Foundation Members; $350 for others (one year membership is included)

The paddle making workshop is hands-on and includes learning how a paddle is made, how to repair a paddle, and selecting a paddle of your own to finish from the rough stage. You will also learn the origins and characteristics of many woods. Using both power tools and hand-shaping, this is your chance to be immersed in Hawaiian woodworking.

Comments from Past Attendees:

• "Bobby's style of teaching made the workshop very enjoyable. He truly exemplifies the aloha spirit.”


• “Bobby was amazing - generous with time, energy, knowledge, love and attention.”


• "It was a wonderful mix of information, skill-building, and social interaction. I loved the hands-on stuff - especially use of the machines. Pat's food was great!"

Register Here

Member $325.00Non-member $350.00

It is long distance racing season and the Foundation is preparing to send crews on the Kaʻiwi Channel 41-mile crossing. They will be racing in the koa canoe, which is rarely used these days as most clubs use their fiberglass boats.

If you are racing for the Puakea Foundation, you will need to complete these two documents (PDF's):

Puakea Membership Form (PDF)

Puakea Foundation Adult Waiver Form (PDF)

Please download and sign theses forms, then give them to Alana.

Aloha and paddle strong, paddlers!

Date: Sunday, March 30th, 2008

Time: 3:00 - 5:00 pm

Location: Heeia State Park
Heeia State Park is just north of Kaneohe. Pull into the parking lot and look for us at the west end of the lot near the canoe halau - you can't miss us!

Here is the map to Heeia State Park.

You are invited to attend the Annual Foundation Meeting to be held at Heeia State Park at Uncle Bobby's canoe shed. Please bring your family and friends.

The meeting will have small pupus and drinks. Feel free to bring your own if you like too. Uncle Bobby will be giving a brief update about the Foundation's activities over the past year and you can pick up brochures to tell your friends about the work of the foundation.

"You will be able to see the koa canoe restoration projects that we have been working on. I hope to see you there." - Uncle Bobby

We had a busy meeting and a great turnout for this month's board meeting.

Save the Date!
We are having a General Membership Meeting at Heeia Park from 4 pm - 7 pm. We'll be having light pupus and Uncle Bobby will show us the continuing work on the Hoʻolale and Meʻe canoes.

We are also in the process of setting up online membership payments. We hope you will join our foundation and support the work of preserving Pacific Islands Canoe Culture.

To make sure we keep you informed, please sign up for our email newsletter!

This past November, the Hawaii Island News featured a cover story on Uncle Bobby, Uncle John Kekua, and Gary Puniwai. This article is about the canoe-building activities of the three men and their contributions to preserving Polynesian culture.

Here is an excerpt from the article:

A koa tree takes the better part of a century to grow to the height required by a canoe maker. A tree’s life doesn’t end once it is cut down, though. “A canoe is a living thing,” Kekua said. “A tree is a living thing. You make it into a canoe, it’s still living.”

There’s a lot more to what Kekua, Puakea and Puniwai are doing than simply building the vessels. Trees are given new life as gorgeous canoes. The sport of canoe racing gets a boost. And in teaching the craft to the next generation, another one of the world’s great traditions is being preserved. As Puakea notes, “It’s part of our heritage, and part of our culture. We love what we do. Bottom line.”

2007 has been a busy and wonderful year for the Puakea Foundation. We will try to bring you up to date on what we have been doing.

In January and February we had our annual paddle workshop. It was a small one but enjoyed by the attendees.

In April Uncle Bobby did a workshop for the Bishop Museum at Heeia State Park about canoes and the ocean.

On May 26th we participated in E Malama O Ke Kai festival at Kapiolani park. We took the hoʻola (Uncle Bobby's koa canoe) to the park for display and he also demonstrated the work he is doing for the foundation.

June and July was vacation, graduations and paddling for many of our members. Uncle Bobby and Pat went to New York to check out the Liberty Challenge Race. Hopefully we will be able to participate in this race with a koa canoe in 2010.

August we went to the state race on Kauai. It was a wonderful sight to see all those koa canoes racing in the bay. After that we sponsored a women's and men's crew in the Kona long distance race on labor day. Both crews used the Halani (a koa canoe that was built by Uncle Bobby and Uncle John). It is one of Kamehameha Canoe Club's racing canoes.

In September we sponsored a crew in the Na Wahine O Ke Kai race between Molokai and Oahu. We would like to thank Alana Burrows for a job well done in coordinating everything from lodging, transportation and food. She did a wonderful job and everyone had a great time. It was nice to see them all smiling when they finished the race. Everyone was very happy.

Also in October we sponsored a men's crew in the Molokai Hoe race and they did a great job. Both the men's and women's crew used Uncle Bobby's koa canoe, Ho'ola. In the race. Uncle Bobby is now working on the Ho'ola to redesign her. Being able to watch her in the races gave him the opportunity to determine what he wanted to do when he started to work on her. He would like to thank both crews for using her in the races. He loves to watch her in the water. The foundation would like to congratulate both crews for a job well done. We also want to thank Ropati of Pacific Paddler Magazine for putting in a full page on our men and women paddlers.

The next item for us was our annual Ho'ola koa project on the Big Island. We went to Hilo for the weekend of October 28 and 29 and went directly up to Umi Koa ranch. We had the opportunity this year to have the manager of the ranch give us a tour of the area where indigenous plants were planted earlier.

This year we did cleaning of invasive plants instead of planting more trees. We were able to see the many koa seedlings we had planted previously and marvel at how they have grown in only one or two years. There were a total of 27 participants this year from Honolulu and Hilo.

Our ongoing projects are still going at Heeia State Park and everyone is invited to come and participate and learn. We are now in the process of working on the koa canoes from Healani and Leeward Kai canoe clubs. We also have two logs and two other canoes that are projects in the near future. Coming up in 2008 is a paddle workshop, if you are interested in it please check out the website for details.

The Puakea Foundation would like to give heartfelt thanks to Roxanne of Bare Feet Studios, for all of her hard work and dedication in maintaining our website. She is doing a wonderful job for us.

We wish all of you a Mele Kalikimaka and Hauʻoli Makahiki Hou!

Uncle Bobby, Pat, Hovey, Beth, Alana, Ricky

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Watch the interview with Uncle Bobby and learn about the exciting plans to tour the mainland USA with Uncle Bobby and the koa canoes in 2008! (Click the picture to start playing.) 5:35 mins. More Hawaii stories can be found on Beachwalks.tv

In 2006, the Masters Women raced the Ho'ola, a koa canoe built by Bobby's dad in the 1950's, in Kona for the big Queen Lil'uokalani Canoe Race.

They raced "iron" - which means the entire 18 mile course with no crew changes.

On July 16, 2005 volunteers from Bobby and Pat's daughter Tayshea's pack came to Heeia and helped cut down a dead tree and clear the bougainvillea from the area where Bobby is going to build and repair canoes for the foundation. As a result of this we were able to make room for a larger cover for the area and we will be bringing a koa log and another canoe for repair. Here are some of the pictures we took of the volunteers working.

One of the goals of the Puakea Foundation is to race the koa canoes whenever possible. For example, there are many communities that have never seen a koa canoe, even though the sport of outrigger canoe racing is well-established. It is also a goal of the foundation to support paddlers of all ages in racing activities.

A crew of Golden Master Women (all 50 and older) participated in the Na Wahine O Ke Kai in September, 2005. This 12-woman crew featuring paddlers from Hawaii and California, earned Third Place out of six canoes in the division of women aged 50 years and older in 2005.

Their time of 7 hours 29 minutes tells us us what a grueling race this was! Uncle Bobby served as their coach, and he picked a winning course by studying the currents out in the Ka'iwi Channel - 41 miles between Molokai and Waikiki, Oahu. Many special mahalos to the Leeward Kai Canoe Club for loaning the Puakea Foundation a canoe for this women's long distance race.