Voyaging to Rapa Nui© Lottie Tagupa
Sep 20, 1999
The twin-hulled ancient voyaging canoe Hokulea is now over 20 years old. Over the years she has sailed with her crew without the help of modern navigational equipment and charts to every island group in Polynesia except Rapa Nui. Her crew is again navigating the largest ocean on earth by the wind, sea and stars in a method that has been handed down from the ancient Polynesian navigating masters. Her latest voyage is to the eastern most Polynesian island group of Rapa Nui.
In mid-July, the double hulled canoe began her voyage from Hilo on the Island of Hawaii and sailed southward over 2500 miles of open ocean toward Rapa Nui via the Marquesas and Mangareva. On her 18th day at sea, she crossed the equator and continued toward the Marquesas. Hokulea made landfall at Eiao, an uninhabited island, in the Marquesas group, at about 2 a.m.
on the morning of July 12, 1999, her 26th day at sea. After a rest in the Marquesas, they arrived in Mangareva on August 29th. In Mangareva,Hokulea will remain until the first good wind after September 15th. She will also receive provisions and a new crew which will include master navigator Nainoa Thompson. According to the official web site of the voyage, the leg from Mangareva and Rapa Nui "will be the most difficult challenge yet for Nainoa Thompson and the navigators and crew of Hokulea: Rapa Nui lies over a thousand miles upwind of the nearest
inhabited islands (Mangareva and Pitcarin) and is a small and isolated target in the middle of a trackless sea."
According to the web site, navigating without instruments requires that the canoe "be guided by celestial bodies (sun, moon, planets, and stars), ocean swells, and land-based sea birds." The way finder "sails into the vicinity of his destination and begins looking for the island." Upon making landfall, the canoe's direction is reoriented toward it's destination. This method has been basic to the ancient art of navigation, however,since Rapa Nui is not located near other islands, this method may prove impractical to the crew on the leg between Mangareva and Rapa Nui. Rapa Nui's size is also of concern. It is a low-lying island in comparison to the towering cliffs found in most Polynesian island groups. This makes is imperative that the canoe be brought within just 46 miles of
the island in order for it to be visible to the crew.
Since September 15th, both the Hokulea and her crew have been waiting for just the right conditions. In a recent crew briefing Nainoa Thompson told the crew "Getting to Pitcarin is very important, so I want to leave Mangareva with both favorable winds and a clear sky so that we can navigate. We will just have to be patient and wait until the conditions are right. But, as soon as they are, we will jump off." The crew has been keeping busy with provisioning and safety duties.
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