KAWAIHAE, Hawai'i — The voyaging canoes Hokule'a and Alingano Maisu alternately baked under a blazing sun and rocked in gusty winds at Kawaihae Harbor yesterday, waiting for a departure that has been delayed by weather until at least Tuesday.

Gusty winds and high seas in the 'Alenuihaha Channel are the issue, and the captains are committed to not starting a voyage in bad weather.

"The channel is smoking," said Nainoa Thompson, who skippered Hokule'a from Honolulu to Kawaihae on Thursday and Friday, not arriving until after 10 p.m. — eight hours later than originally estimated.

"Last night we experienced winds of 35 knots, and we know the channel is even rougher now and building," he said.

Hokule'a handled the seas well but tore canvas hull covers when a wave crashed on to the deck. The canvas was being resewn yesterday.

"We ain't taking the canoes out in this. The most important thing is safety. We're just going to play it safe," Thompson said.

Thompson met for three hours yesterday to review readiness, final preparations and weather with Shorty Bertelmann and Bruce Blankenfeld, who will skipper Maisu and Hokule'a, respectively, and Chadd Paishon, who will navigate Maisu.

Late in the day, they reviewed their discussions with the crews. They plan a ceremony at 4 p.m. today at Mahukona Harbor, north of Kawaihae, to mark the end of preparations and readiness for sailing.

"It's not a ceremony to say goodbye but to bring family together. Instead of leaving, it's a joining together of all of us as we prepare to depart," said Paishon, president of Na Kalai Wa'a Moku o Hawai'i, which built Alingano Maisu.

"The departure ceremony is again about gathering and aloha, and it frees the canoe and crew to go when the wind lets us go," Thompson said.

The canoes will remain at Kawaihae and will not be at Mahukona for the ceremony.

Because of rising winds, the canoes will not depart until sometime after dawn Tuesday, when winds are expected to have dropped off somewhat, with the weather determining when they cast off their mooring lines.

The 30-year-old Hokule'a will accompany Maisu to Micronesia, where at Satawal, it will be presented as a gift to navigator Mau Piailug, in thanks for his crucial role in teaching noninstrument navigation to Hawaiian canoe sailors.

Hokule'a will sail on to Japan on a friendship mission.

Preparations for voyaging on the canoes is never entirely done. Yesterday, crew members and volunteers worked on a range of tasks to have Maisu ready. There was fiberglass work on a bulkhead, the lashing in of crew hammocks, the checking and lashing of bilge pump pipes, the splicing of nylon lines on to anchor chain.

On Hokule'a, after the tough voyage from O'ahu through the 'Alenuihaha Channel, the crew was checking and re-storing gear, adjusting weight on the canoe to improve its performance and going through personal gear to see what could be left behind.

For many crew members, even ones who have sailed on the canoe before, Hokule'a has a specialness that doesn't pass away with familiarity. "I'm honored to set foot on this canoe," said crew member Bob Bee, 57, of Kailua. "There's something special about this canoe, especially when you're out at sea. It's alive. It keeps drawing you back."

The voyage to Micronesia adds to the importance because of Piailug's role in supporting the Hawaiian canoe voyaging renaissance, he said.

"The major part for me is to honor Mau for his part," he said.

The canoe and voyaging "brought more pride to the Hawaiian culture, and that was lacking. When I grew up, it was shame to be Hawaiian. This canoe made everyone proud," Bee said.

Reach Jan TenBruggencate at jant@honoluluadvertiser.com.