INTREPID adventurers who set sail in a Hawaiian canoe returned to the North-East in style yesterday.
The ten-strong crew, led by Andy White, Middlesbrough Borough Council's head of lifelong learning and leisure services, arrived with their craft, at the town's Bottle of Notes sculpture, to take a bow.
They had just returned from a 44-mile, two-way crossing of the English Channel in the wa'alele, which was given to Middlesbrough in 1978 to mark the 200th anniversary of Captain James Cook landing on Hawaii.
The canoe had been displayed outside the Captain Cook Birthplace Museum, until Mr White saw it and recruited volunteers to help renovate it for his voyage.
It was launched during a youth regatta on the Tees, then take from Whitby to Stockton to test its seaworthiness for the Channel crossing.
The venture was supported by Enterprise Inns and The Gables pub, in Hemlington, and is expected to raise £10,000 for the Teesside Hospice Care Foundation and the mental health charity, New Horizons.
Mr White said: "We had a good crossing, but it is good to be on dry land again. It was great to use the canoe for the purpose it was originally intended. Wa'alele means 'the canoe that flies' and it certainly lived up to its name."
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