"Culturally, the
1976 voyage was ... a great
success. Hawaiians and Tahitians regarded the voyage as tangible proof of
the nautical abilities of their ancestors, and saw the canoe as a symbol
of their heritage as an exploring, pioneering
people. However, despite the fact that the canoe had been designed,
captained and largely crewed by Hawaiians, many Hawaiians
felt that a crucial element had been missing in the venture: a Hawaiian
had not navigated the canoe along the seaway
between Hawai'i and Tahiti as their ancestors had once done". Nainoa
Thompson, a young Hawaiian on the crew of the 1976 voyage home, set out to
learn how to navigate as his ancestors had. In 1980, he successfully
guided
Hokule'a to Tahiti and back. "In
replicating Mau's feat of navigating the
canoe to Tahiti, and then guiding it back to Hawai'i, Nainoa was able to
validate and extend the results of the 1976 navigational experiment"
(Finney).
More on the 1980 voyage to Tahiti and back can be found in
Will Kyselka's "Ocean in Mind" (Honolulu: University of Hawai'i, 1987) and
in David Lewis's "We, the Navigators: The Ancient Art of Landfinding in
the Pacific," 2nd Edition (Honolulu: Univ. of Hawai'i Press, 1994, pp.
312-341).
CREW MEMBERS: HAWAI`I-TAHITI, 1980:
Nainoa Thompson-Navigator.
Pat Aiu,
Chad Baybayan,
Shorty Bertelmann,
Harry Ho,
Sam Ka`ai,
Buddy McGuire,
Marion Lyman-Mersereau,
Mau Piailug,
Gordon Pi`ianai`a,
Steve Somsen,
Jo-Anne Sterling.
Leon Sterling,
Tava Taupu
CREW MEMBERS: TAHITI-HAWAI`I, 1980:
Nainoa Thompson-Navigator,
Snake Ah Hee,
Wedemeyer Au,
Chad Baybayan,
Bruce Blankenfeld,
John Kruse,
Kainoa Lee,
Kimo Lyman,
Gordon Pi`ianai`a, Mau Piailug, Steve Somsen, Leon Sterling, Michael Tongg, Nathan Wong
"Culturally, the
1976 voyage was ... a great
success. Hawaiians and Tahitians regarded the voyage as tangible proof of
the nautical abilities of their ancestors, and saw the canoe as a symbol
of their heritage as an exploring, pioneering
people. However, despite the fact that the canoe had been designed,
captained and largely crewed by Hawaiians, many Hawaiians
felt that a crucial element had been missing in the venture: a Hawaiian
had not navigated the canoe along the seaway
between Hawai'i and Tahiti as their ancestors had once done". Nainoa
Thompson, a young Hawaiian on the crew of the 1976 voyage home, set out to
learn how to navigate as his ancestors had. In 1980, he successfully
guided
Hokule'a to Tahiti and back. "In
replicating Mau's feat of navigating the
canoe to Tahiti, and then guiding it back to Hawai'i, Nainoa was able to
validate and extend the results of the 1976 navigational experiment"
(Finney).