Education on the Ocean: Pua Ka Ilima Treats Keiki to Sailing Adventures

By Ma‘ata Tukuafu

It was a 19-day adventure on the open seas for Ralph Blancato and his crew to pilot a 42-foot sailboat from California to Hawai‘i Island. In July 2022, Ralph and his team of three people sailed successfully into Hawaiian waters after traversing 2,200 nautical miles. A mariner with 50 years of sailing experience on the ocean, Captain Ralph said the trip was demanding, but pleasant.

“It’s not for everybody,” he says. “It can be very challenging; you can have a beautiful, easy trip, or it can be hell. Sailing really helps people develop character and to be in touch with who they are, as well as work as a team. You are remote with rough oceans, or hurricanes, and there is always the possibility of not making it.”

With more than 62,000 sailing miles under his belt, Ralph has sailed from New Zealand to San Francisco and all over the Pacific Ocean. He has crossed the ‘Alenuihāhā Channel 92 times, saying he picks the days, currents, wind conditions, and weather, and yet has experienced 18–22-foot waves on the crossings. His love for the ocean shows as he captains Pua, the 42-foot Hunter 420 sailing vessel, on a charter out of Kawaihae Harbor in South Kohala.

Pua Ka Ilima LLC from Kawaihae has been operating for three years now, and it was time to upgrade from the older boat, Sapphira, to one that offered higher performance. The Dorrance Family Foundation, a nonprofit organization supporting education and natural resource conservation, is financing Pua. Until Pua Ka Ilima LLC achieves its own nonprofit status, the crew operates the boat by dividing their sailing time: 50 percent are paid charters, and the other 50 percent, they sponsor free boat rides for island keiki (children). Partnering with another nonprofit, For Children to Flourish, they take young students out on boats to learn about ocean safety, marine animals, and for the pure enjoyment of being out on the ocean.

Kelsey Waliszewski, one of the founders of For Children to Flourish (and owner of Da Whale Boat) said she had the opportunity to sponsor a group of Kohala Middle School girls on a boat tour. “I couldn’t believe how many kids, born and raised on Big Island had never seen a whale or a dolphin, much less been out on a boat.” This is a consistent story of Hawai‘i Island children, as many live below the poverty line and these types of opportunities are seldom. In January 2022, Da Whale Boat, and other boat companies, including Pua Ka Ilima LLC, began offering boating experiences to children and teens.

Partnering with after-school programs, charter schools, counselors, foster care providers, homeschoolers, youth groups, and families around the island, For Children to Flourish has invited more than 250 individuals to experience a boat ride on 30 trips in 2022. Renee Perrington, project coordinator, says their organization exists to inspire the community in a new or renewed passion for the ocean and life around it. Renee shares, “Children flourishing physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually are the fruit of a healthy community.”

Pua Ka Ilima’s mission is to educate youth from all races and all socioeconomic levels. The sloop-rigged sailboat Pua can hold 10 to 15 keiki plus crew, and has a big flush deck which is great for the students to spread out. The head and main sails are self-furling, and the sails can be pulled in quickly if they need to be adjusted for radical weather. The sailboat also offers easy access for passengers to get into the ocean. Though the boat has many instruments, Ralph says it is still vital to know the currents, and to look at the weather and position of the sun. Keiki are taught survival skills, as well as lessons from educators and ocean-connected people invited onto the boat.

“We bring on marine biologists, lifeguards, ornithologists, and whale researchers,” Ralph says. “These educators offer an out-of-the-box education that is not taught in schools. The kids learn about teamwork, cooperation, and how to be aware and conscious of other people’s needs. We invite people from National Geographic who might be here on vacation, humpback whale researchers, and many of the talented ocean people we have here on the Big Island.” The potential for careers other than sailing is also there when children are exposed to opportunities like this.

A Success Story

Tobias Perkins, a crew member who will soon be a captain, jokingly says he is Ralph’s secretary and handyman. He was part of the crew that sailed Pua to Hawai‘i and says it was quite the adventure. For the first three days of the trip, he and the other two crew members were seasick.

“Our captain was thinking he was going to be the only one sailing home,” Tobias says. “He didn’t complain or make fun of us, he was the captain and just told us to get better. It was our first crossing, and our bodies were getting used to the motion. Once we all recovered, we started our rotation of two hours on and six hours off. Every day became the same, like in the movie Groundhog Day. And I thought we were going to have sunshine all day and stars at night, but it wasn’t like that. There was no light pollution at night. It is an experience I’ll never forget.”

Tobias currently does everything from boat maintenance to overseeing the program for kids. He tells the story of how his grandfather and Ralph got their captain’s licenses together “back in the day,” and how he met Ralph when he was about 10 years old while on vacation here. Though his mother grew up in Hawai‘i, Tobias was raised in Austin, Texas. After that one meeting, there was no communication between Ralph and him until Tobias came here on a trip and ran into Ralph at the Parker School Farmers’ Market in 2021. He began crewing on Sapphira, and has been crewing on other boats, ever since. He says that the sailing aspect is what he loves most, and “that being on a boat is awesome, but being on a sailboat is the best.”

“Being able to glide through the water with no power is amazing,” Tobias says, “with no engine, and just pure wind in the sails, it’s quiet. I see it as a quiet success, everyone is happy, and it’s thrilling too.”

Being from Texas, and with no background in sailing, to be able to say he is crewing on a sailboat within a year of reconnecting with Ralph is something Tobias is proud of accomplishing. He enjoys the opportunity of taking underprivileged kids out onto the ocean and offering them a different perspective on life. There isn’t an actual syllabus for the program, and Tobias says each sailing experience is different. For him, the keiki who are excited to be on board a sailboat—the ones who are curious—is what he loves best. Both boys and girls ages 12–17 are the target age group, and though some may be afraid of open ocean swimming, he says they hop into the water with them to make them comfortable.

Raising Awareness

Another aspect of the sailing program is to raise awareness within the youth about over-consumerism and the problem of humans producing too much trash—both in the sea and on land. By teaching keiki about the amount of trash we generate, we can make them aware of ways to alleviate the problem. Captain Ralph’s great love for the ocean is evident in how he treats it, the people aboard the sailboat, and the respect he has for his crew.

Blessing

On September 11, 2022, a blessing for the sailboat Pua was held at the small boat harbor in Kawaihae. Members of Makali‘i’s Na Kalai Wa‘a Moku o Hawai‘i have been very supportive of Pua Ka Ilima’s endeavour to educate children and to promote positive character development among the youth. Blessed by Ma‘ulili Dickson, the first serving of food was wrapped in ti leaves, and offered up to the ‘aumakua (gods) of the area, and to the boat Pua. It was a fitting moment, dedicated to the families, youth and crew to continue the ocean legacy in view of Pu‘ukoholā, home of the whales and a heiau (temple) to guide seafarers home. ❖

For more information:
Pua Ka Ilima LLC: 512.910.7197
ForChildrentoFlourish.com