When the double-hulled voyaging canoe Hokule'a sailed on its maiden voyage from Hawai'i to Tahiti in 1976, navigated across the open ocean without instruments, no one could predict the enormous impact it would have on Polynesians.
But it served as a catalyst for a cultural awakening throughout the Pacific. It was a sailing experiment that sparked a Hawaiian renaissance, a modern adventure laced with risk that swept voyagers back in time.
In 1973, the Polynesian Voyaging Society was created to determine whether ancient Polynesians had purposely navigated an area of the Pacific spanning 10 million square miles.
The challenge was great. No one had built or navigated a vessel like this in more than 600 years. But even though the society lacked information about the exact design and construction of an open-ocean canoe and did not have enough natural materials, it built Hokule'a and launched it on March 8, 1975. It weighed 10 tons, was 62 feet long and was built of fiberglass and koa.
The canoe needed a navigator, because no living Polynesians knew the ancient technique. The society turned to Mau Piailug, a traditional navigator from Micronesia whose method of using the stars, waves and birds was thought to be similar to what was used by ancient Polynesians.
Piailug successfully navigated Hokule'a to Tahiti in May 1976. His feat inspired Nainoa Thompson to master celestial navigation, and Thompson — the first Hawaiian navigator in centuries — would make his own successful voyage to Tahiti and back in 1980.
The canoe's only low point was in 1978, when it capsized between O'ahu and Lana'i and veteran waterman Eddie Aikau disappeared while trying to get help by paddling a surfboard ashore.
In its wake, Hokule'a revived an interest in Hawaiian traditions, canoe-building and celestial navigation. Since then, voyaging canoes have been built and sailed from islands across the Pacific. There are now 13 navigators, and more are being trained.
The Hokule'a, having sailed more than 110,000 miles using a technique once thought lost, is a potent source of pride not only among Hawaiians, but among people and cultures all over Polynesia.
