HONOLULU — No modern navigation instrumentation guided a Polynesian voyaging canoe as it followed the horizon during a three-year journey around the globe.
About a dozen crew members for each leg of the voyage relied only on their understanding of nature’s cues — ocean swells, stars, wind, birds — and their own naau, or gut, to sail across about 40,000 nautical miles to 19 countries, spreading a message of malama honua: Caring for the earth.
On Saturday, thousands welcomed the double-hulled canoe Hokule‘a home to Hawaii when it entered a channel off Oahu and tied up to a floating dock with iconic Diamond Head in the distance.
Ka‘iulani Murphy, an apprentice navigator on the double-hulled canoe, told The Associated Press that the successful journey taught her the value of ancient Polynesian maritime techniques.
“We really are sailing in their (the ancestors’) wake,” said Murphy, 38. “We had to relearn what our ancestors had mastered.”
The toughest part of the journey was dealing with cloud cover and trying to maintain the proper speed so the boat escorting the canoe could keep pace, she said, adding that she enjoyed eating the fish the crew caught during the journey.
Bert Wong came to Ala Moana Beach Park to celebrate Hokule‘a’s homecoming — and to celebrate his son, Kaleo, a Hokule‘a navigator, according to Hawaii News Now.
“Just being here and feeling the mana that’s here, it’s something to enjoy which brings tears to my eyes,” Wong said. “This is so powerful.”
The crew held a formal homecoming ceremony on Magic Island in Honolulu that included welcoming remarks from Gov. David Ige and Mayor Kirk Caldwell and a speech by Nainoa Thompson, a well-known master navigator, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported.
Thompson, president of the Polynesian Voyaging Society, was visibly moved as he addressed the crowd, saying that he was “standing here on behalf of the many.”
“Thank you, Hawaii. Thank you for the moment,” he said. “I am very humbled to tell you right now that Hokule‘a is home.”
The voyage perpetuated the traditional wayfinding that brought the first Polynesians several thousand miles to Hawaii hundreds of years ago. The trip also helped train a new generation of young navigators.
Hokule‘a means star of gladness. The canoe was built and launched in the 1970s, when there were no Polynesian navigators left. So the Voyaging Society looked beyond Polynesia to find one.
Mau Piailug, from a small island called Satawal in Micronesia, was among the last half-dozen people in the world to practice the art of traditional navigation and agreed to guide Hokule‘a to Tahiti in 1976.
“Without him, our voyaging would never have taken place,” the Polynesian Voyaging Society said on the website for Hokule‘a. “Mau was the only traditional navigator who was willing and able to reach beyond his culture to ours.”
The epic round-the-world voyage that started in 2014 shows how far Hokule‘a has gone since its first voyage from Hawaii to Tahiti in 1976.
Disaster befell another voyage in 1978 when the canoe capsized off Molokai in a blinding storm.
Eddie Aikau, a revered Hawaiian surfer and lifeguard on the crew, grabbed his surfboard and paddled for help, but was never seen again. The rest of the crew members were rescued.
The crew hope the success of the latest journey will inspire other indigenous cultures to rediscover and revive traditions. Thompson said he also hopes indigenous cultures can help with solutions to modern-day problems such as climate change.
Native Hawaiian ancestors were not only skilled navigators but good stewards of the islands who farmed and fished sustainably.
“They figured it out — how to live well on these islands,” Thompson said. “And I think that is the challenge of the time for planet Earth and all of humanity.”
Crew members of the worldwide voyage were mindful to incorporate that into daily life.
Fish they caught for meals never went to waste, even when the crew once landed a 49-pound ahi, crewmember Naalehu Anthony, who participated in about half-a-dozen legs of the voyage, recalled in a blog post.
“The fish was plenty for us for the day,” he wrote.
Crew members slept in plywood bunks covered with waterproof canvas and bathing was simple, recalled Russell Amimoto, a Hokule‘a crew member for two legs.
“We have unlimited supply of nice, ocean-temperature saltwater available,” he said, explaining that crew members threw a bucket attached to a rope overboard to scoop up water for bathing.
After returning, Hokule‘a will embark on an eight-month trip sailing throughout the Hawaiian islands.
“We will go to as many as 70 communities and 100 schools to thank Hawaii’s people and share what we have learned with their children,” Thompson said. “We are also looking forward to hearing Hawaii stories of malama honua.”
