The Ha waiian voyaging canoe Hawai 'iloa sailing offthe Hawaiian coast not long after her launching in July, 1993. Construction ofthe 52-foot, sprucehulled Hawai 'iloa signified the continuance of a voyaging tradition set by the 19-year-old voyaging canoe Hokulea and the revival of Hawaiian maritime arts.
No NaMatno Hawaiian Voyaging Canoes Revive an Astonishing Seafaring Record by Kevin Haydon hink of Hawaii and familiar images appear-white sa ndy beaches, pounding surf, residents clad in bright native prints, high-rise hotels and green, cone-shaped mountains. For a growing number of Hawaiians, however, a more dominent symbol represents their homeland and culture. It is the Polynesian voyaging canoe-a vessel that is emblematic of one of the great accomplishments of mankind, the peopling of Oceania. Perhaps as long ago as 30,000 years, people from Southeast Asia began slowly to develop a maritime tradition by traveling over open water. In time, canoes arrived at the shores of what we now call New Guinea.By 1200 AD the Polynesians in their voyaging canoes had completed the settlement of a vast stretch of the globe. Did this settlement happen by accident, or was it intentional? For the last fifteen years, experimental voyaging by a replica double-hulled voyaging canoe, the Hokule'a, has brought answers to these questions and, in so doing, has revived a remarkable cultural legacy preserved only in legends. The canoe has become a focal point of a cultural revival in Hawaii, and her voyaging has helped spur an interest in Polynesian maritime traditions through-
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out the Pacific amongst far-flung communities that share a common origin. The builder-operator of the H okule 'a is the non-profit Polynesian Voyaging Society, which, since launching the canoe in the spring of 1975 , has undertaken four history-making voyages. The most momentous of these was a 2-year 12,000mile "Voyage of Rediscovery" completed in May 1987, which took her to Tahiti, the Cook Islands, New Zealand, Tonga, Samoa and the Tuamoto Archipelago, retracing routes believed to have been sailed by the ancestors of modemday Polynesians as they settled the Polynesian Triangle of the Pacific. Although built with modem tools from modem materials, the 60-ft vessel is a performance-accurate replica; that is, her lines, weight, rigging and sailing characteristics come as close as possible to replicating those of the vessels developed by the ancient Polynesian navigators. The conception, design and construction of Hokule'a were part of a bold experiment: to test the theory of "intentional" exploration and colonization of Polynesia as opposed to the theory of "accidental" settlement. The key questions were: given that Polynesians may
long ago have had the skills to build such a sophisticated craft, could such a vessel be sailed close to the wind? (an absolute necessity in sailing from west to east in the tropical Pacific); and, could they have made repeated voyages of settlement over thousands of miles of trackless ocean without the aid of navigational instruments of any sort? H okule 'a and her crews have metthese questions head-on. The first voyage, in 1976, was navigated by Caroline Islander Mau Piailug, who demonstrated that traditional navigation techniques were indeed su itable for planned, long-distance sailing. Hawaiian crew member Nainoa Thompson was so inspired by the voyage that he began to study traditional navigation. For four years, Thompson memorized the night sky and studied under Piailug. In 1980, Thompson guided Hokule'a from Hawaii to Tahiti and back solely by observing stars, ocean swells, currents, colors, winds and sea birds. This historic voyage made him the first Hawaiian in centuries to navigate without the use of modem navigational equipment. Four times now, Hokule'a has sailed from Hawaii to Tahiti navigated without the use of instruments of any kind-not even watches. Twice she has sailed from Tahiti back to Hawaii navigated in the same manner. These voyages have strengthened the theory of an intentional island-hopping movement over a period of several thousand years, a theory strongly supported by linguistic studies, archaeological finds and observable physical characteristics of Polynesians who toiday inhabit the various groups of SEA HISTORY 70, SUMMER 1994
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