WAIMANALO — A master navigator and a toddler are among dozens of people who contributed to the carving and launching of a canoe built for Halau Lokahi Public Charter School.

About 100 children from the school chanted and sang at Kaiona Beach Park yesterday as the canoe, Makaiouaua, made its maiden cruise. The event culminated three years of work by students, past students and teachers from Halau Lokahi along with community volunteers for the school's navigation program led by one of the school's teachers, Milton John Coleman.

Two Halau Lokahi graduates, Cody Kaapa and Kalae Kauwe, spent the last three months helping build the canoe and living at Correa Ranch in Waimanalo, where the canoe was being carved by Weston Keala Correa, caretaker of the ranch.

Kaapa and Kauwe, both 18, said they were motivated by a desire to perpetuate the Hawaiian culture for the students and for Hawai'i.

"Without the culture, we wouldn't be here," Kaapa said. "Without the Hawaiian people, we wouldn't be here."

The tree for the canoe hull came from Kalihi and is the invasive species albizia. Laara Allbrett, school director, recognized the irony of the choice of trees and said it is characteristic of Hawaiians to take something foreign and incorporate it into their culture. It's also part of the school's mission to reduce and reuse invasive species in the ahupua'a or traditional land division where the school is located in Kalihi Valley.

"That would have been hauled to the dump. Instead, we are reusing and turning it into something useful," Allbrett said.

The sail for the canoe was a gift from master navigator Mau Piailug, who trained Coleman. It was made under Piailug's supervision and woven by his daughter and men on Satawal island where he lives in Micronesia, Coleman said.

The name of the canoe came from Coleman's son, a source that surprised him since the boy just turned 2 and knew very little about the canoe.

Normally, the name would come in a dream, but Coleman said he heard the name twice and couldn't remember it. On Saturday night, he prayed for guidance, as time was short — the canoe was to be blessed and named Sunday.

It was then that his son said "Makaiouaua." Ouaua is the area in Kalihi Valley where the tree came from, and it is known for its rainy conditions, Coleman said.

"There's no way he would have known the history of the canoe, but he wouldn't stop saying it," he said.

Coleman accepted the name and told others about it, and they decided to try it.

On Sunday, the kahu blessed the boat, and every time he said its name, the rain poured, a sure sign it was the right name, he said. The rain filled the canoe and the 'awa bowl with water. Later in the evening, the men commemorated the event with 'awa made with the rainwater.

"It wasn't until we partook of the 'awa ... that the rain stopped," Coleman said, adding that it was another sign that the name was right.