WAILUKU, Maui — A dozen high school seniors on a weeklong voyage to circumnavigate Maui overcame their first major test of adversity Saturday when their koa canoe snapped in two not long after departing Kahului Harbor.

Parents watched with binoculars from atop the steep windward cliffs of Kahakuloa as the canoe swamped twice in rough seas before it could reach Nakalele Point on Maui's northernmost tip.

When the vessel filled with water a third time, the young paddlers guided the canoe to the rugged shoreline and climbed onto the rocks so they could hoist it out of the water, said Clifford Nae'ole, whose 17-year-old son is one of the paddlers. They launched the craft again, but the pounding from swells soon split the canoe between the first and second seats.

"It was insane. It was too rough and windy, and the swells were hitting them broadside," Nae'ole said. "Another half-hour and they would have been home free. It was a lesson in life: Sometimes maybe your canoe has to pause, but it doesn't mean it has to stop."

An escort boat towed the broken canoe to D.T. Fleming Beach Park in Honokahua, the first of six planned rest stops, but the students insisted on swimming the two pieces of hull the final distance to the shore, finally making land at about 12:30 p.m.

"They wanted to bring it in on their own power. They felt that was their responsibility," Nae'ole said.

Parent and steersman Lopaka 'Aiwohi, who owns the koa canoe, had his fiberglass canoe brought down to Honokahua, and the group left at sunrise Sunday on their second leg, as planned. Nae'ole said the three-hour paddle to Ukumehame was a breeze compared with the previous day's misadventure, and the group made its way without incident to Makena Landing yesterday. They are due to return to Kahului Harbor on Friday.

Nine of the 12 paddlers are King Kekaulike High School students enrolled in the state Department of Education's Kula Kaiapuni Hawaiian Language Immersion Program, and the other three at one time attended the program but are now at other schools. Program officials said this is the first time an entire class has attempted a project of this scale and significance.

They are covering between 18 and 23 miles on each leg, with parents setting up camp for them along the way. In addition to their ocean adventures, the students are keeping journals and learning about each moku, or district, they are visiting and other topics such as navigation.

Reach Christie Wilson at cwilson@honoluluadvertiser.com.