Thousands of kids have an important piece of summer equipment back.

A day after we told you that an eight-person, double-hulled canoe had gone missing from Kualoa Regional Park, it was recovered.

The canoe is used by a variety of groups, including children who are part of the city’s Summer Fun program.

We got word from one of the program’s volunteers, who said the canoe was found several miles away.

Nakoa Prejean says late Tuesday night, someone called him after a canoe was found in Kahana Bay. That’s five miles away from Kualoa.

He went down Wednesday morning and sure enough, it’s their canoe.

He thinks whoever took it ended up cutting it loose in the water, and trade winds blew it back into shore. It’s a little beat up, but nothing that can’t be fixed.

“It was battered. It was still water tight and the hull integrity was still good. There’s still a lot of stuff that still needs to be fixed maybe later, but it’s in safe operating condition now, so the keiki programs are able to use it through the summer,” Prejean said. “We’re so thankful we were able to get the canoe back to our home and that she’ll be ready to go to take the kids out in another week or two and spend the summer on the water.”

Honolulu police opened a theft investigation, but so far no one’s been arrested.

If you do have any information on who took the canoe or how it disappeared in the first place, call police.