PACIFIC ADVENTURE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 30 December 1938, Page 9

PACIFIC ADVENTURE

OLD CANOE REMODELLED. SEVERAL NOVEL FEATURES. Three adventurers were leaving Honolulu recently in a modernised 100-year-old Samoan canoe for what was to be the white man’s first attempt to make a transpacific outrigger canoe trip. The three men, Messrs U. A. Woodbury, of Elsinore, California; Don Hall, of Long Beach, California; and Charles Kern, of Providence, Rhode Island, plan to sail from Honolulu to Pago Pago, American Samoa, 2000 miles, in 20 days.

Plenty of sceptics say it cannot be done, but the trio consider they have thought of every eventuality. They have completely remodelled the old 32foot long canoe which they bought locally. The sides of the canoe have been built up and the hull jn general strengthened by metal ribs and transverse rods. A keel has been added.

Usually an outrigger canoe hull is open to the skies except at each end, where short pieces are placed to divert wave splashes. However, the adventurers ingeniously have made good use of the long hollow. They have sectioned it off jnto hatches, the forward being filled with empty metal cans for buoyancy in the event of an upset. The second hatch has galvanised tanks for clothing, food and equipment. Next is a seven-foot long sleeping compartment with a zippered canvas covering. Finally, there is a five-foot cockpit for seating the two men on watch. Behind this is a well for an outboard motor. The motor will be used in the 500 miles of changeable doldrums weather near the equator, and for entering and leaving ports. Otherwise the canoe will depend for movement on a 175 square feet Marconi rigged sail and a jib. Instead of a paddle, the canoe will be steered by a pivot type rudder, which folds up astern when the canoe is beached.

The most novel feature is the galvanised iron outrigger, which usually is made of wood. It has been kept hollow for the storage of drinking water and outboard motor fuel, which will be hand pumped out as required. Much to the delight of local philatelists, the canoe, named the Lealea-lani, will carry, cover for collectors. After Pago Pago, if all goes well, the trio say they may continue on to Fiji and New Zealand.

Mr Woodbury is a well-known American yachtsman. For many years he sailed two boats for Sir Wilfred Grenfell, carrying supplies from Boston to Newfoundland. Mr Kern is a noted sailer of class boats. Mr Hall is a former Long Beach lifeguard.