Fri, Jan 23, 2026

Aloha Kākou,

We are coming up on a week in our time here in Aotearoa and it’s amazing to see how well our crew has found our rhythm to accomplish the tasks at hand. As a crew, we want to thank Captain Bruce for his leadership and hard work in keeping these canoes in pristine shape both on and off the water. Bruceʻs style of leadership is such an important facet to the voyaging experience for many of us. I sailed my first trip with Bruce almost 30 years ago (gulp) and the entire time his mantra has been- leave it better than you found it. It could be a messy line tied to the mast- take the time to make it nice. I’m reminded of times that we get to port after a month at sea and Captain Bruce would be sure that our crew sets up the canoe in a way that makes it as easy as possible for the next crew to pick up and move forward with the voyage. The manifest would be accurate, the canoe would be spotless and all the bunks reset for the next inhabitants. Leave it better than you found it.

That mantra applies to this drydock too. We have a crew that has come to make these canoes gleam again after many thousands of miles of hard sailing. Some of the issues were known, some were not figured out until we took the components apart or got a real good look at the issue areas. We have had to remove both shafts from Hikianalia to make sure that the components can go another year with minimal wear to the components and the vessel. And with the help of our crew Kyle, Zeb and Ikaika as well as some new friends from Aotearoa we will have Hiki running maybe better than when those motors were first installed. Kalani and I have been working every day on the electrical systems on both canoes with a bit of retrofitting but the real lift is with the rest of the crew that is zeroing in on all the details to really make these canoes shine. Derek was working on the bottom paint all afternoon and we are on our second coat of epoxy with the hard work of the rest of the crew sanding and coating parts both big and small.

I will leave you with this- leaving it better than you found it is great on a canoe. It’s the right thing to do. It feels good when we know that we have added something positive to these sacred vessels. And yet there are some of us who leave that value aside when we finish the voyage and go back to a different set of standards when we get home. Why is that? Imagine if everyone we knew subscribed to leave it better than you found it in regular everyday life? What would our communities look like? How would our relationships be different? What would our environment look like? Food for thought as we work together in this little corner of the universe trying to leave every day better than we found it. Thank you Captain Bruce for the amazing life lessons on and off the canoe.

Mahalo nui and good night,
Nāʻālehu Anthony