Voyagers have arrived in Hilo from Tahiti, using nature as their travel guide.
A group of 16 aboard a traditional voyaging canoe, the Fa‘afaite, used traditional sailing methods to complete the journey in 17 days.
“We had good weather, good wind, good swell, too,” said Jean-Claude Teriierooiterai, navigator-in-training and president of the Tahiti Voyaging Society.
The Malama Honua Worldwide Voyage has taken the iconic Polynesian voyaging canoe Hokule‘a around the world, and her sister canoe, Hikianalia, throughout the Pacific to promote a global movement toward a more sustainable world. The worldwide voyage began in 2013.
Tahitian Matahi Tutavae, also a navigator-in-training, said the Polynesian Voyaging Society has tracked the progress of Fa‘afaite at the same time it tracked its Hokule‘a. Fa‘afaite is now awaiting the arrival of its sister canoe, Okeanos.
Once it arrives, Okeanos and Fa‘afaite will set sail for Honolulu to celebrate the arrival of Hokule‘a at the end of its worldwide voyage.
Lehua Kamalu, who shared her navigation knowledge on the way to Hilo on Fa‘afaite, said there were virtually no “pwo” (master navigators) left in the 1970s when people became interested in trying to build the Hokule‘a as close to the way a boat would have been built hundreds of years ago as possible. A solitary pwo was found in Micronesia and he taught a few others.
There are about five in Hawaii who were trained by him, and 11 total worldwide.
In Micronesia, sailing was still done with traditional methods. Although that last remaining pwo is no longer alive, the Polynesian Voyaging Society has worked since the ’70s to encourage interest in instrument-free ocean navigation using traditionally designed boats such as Fa‘afaite.
Now, these navigators-in-training are sailing with “the wind and the waves and the stars and all of nature’s signs,” Kamalu said.
Their sailing reignited interest in traditional practice in Hawaii as well as Tahiti, Micronesia and New Zealand.
The group averaged more than 150 miles a day during the 2,600-mile journey.
At 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, the Hokule‘a was 790 miles from Honolulu.
After the homecoming celebration June 17 on Oahu at Magic Island, a summit will take place from June 18-20 in Honolulu with inspirational speakers for youth and adults.
Email Jeff Hansel at jhansel@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
