The voyaging canoe Hokule'a will try to set sail again today for a 1,000-mile trip to Palmyra Atoll using ancient navigational techniques following a trial run yesterday in windy seas.

A crew partially comprising novice sailors and captains and navigators-in-training took the Hokule'a out for about three hours yesterday along the southern coast of O'ahu and faced "plenty of wind," said Pauline Sato, who plans to make the trip to Palmyra.

"We were going a good 7 knots," she said. "The wind was solid. We were flying."

Crew members plan to return to the Hokule'a today around noon to see if conditions improve for the voyage.

The Palmyra trip is one of a dozen sea trials the Hokule'a will undergo this year to train new crews for a possible voyage around the world that would take 37 months.

The worldwide journey of 31,000 nautical miles and 40 countries can be attempted only if Hokule'a can first develop a minimum of 12 crews of 12 people each, said Nainoa Thompson, president of the Polynesian Voyaging Society.

The crews will take turns sailing the canoe and no one will be asked to be at sea for longer than 30 days, Thompson has said.