Hoʻokele Pololei iā Hōkūleʻa: Celebrating 50 Years of Traditional Voyaging

This month, Hōkūleʻa will celebrate 50 years of voyaging. The acclaimed Hawaiian voyaging canoe first launched from Kualoa, Oʻahu, in Kāneʻohe Bay, on March 8, 1975. Hōkūleʻa’s first open ocean voyage took place just over a year later, when she departed Hawaiʻi on May 1, 1976, on her famous inaugural voyage, making landfall in Tahiti a month later on June 1.

As Hōkūleʻa sailed into Pape‘ete Harbor she was greeted by a crowd of more than 17,000 – more than half of the island’s residents turned out. There was good reason for the excitement that Hōkūleʻa’s maiden voyage generated across Polynesia – it was the first traditional open-ocean voyage from Hawaiʻi in 600 years.

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Hōkūleʻa was designed by artist and historian Herb Kawainui Kāne, one of the founders of the Polynesian Voyaging Society (PVS). Although the skill to build Hōkūleʻa was retained, the art and science of traditional navigation had been lost to our people.

So PVS looked outside of Polynesia and found a traditional navigator, the renowned Mau Piailug from the island of Satawal in Micronesia. Piailug navigated Hōkūleʻa to Tahiti in 1976 and then agreed to train young ʻŌiwi waterman Nainoa Thompson. In 1980, Thompson was able to replicate the 1976 voyage to Tahiti.

In 2007, Piailug inducted five Hawaiians into “Pwo” – the ninth of 15 degrees in Micronesia’s Weriyeng School of Navigation. In addition to Thompson, the Pwo navigators included the late Chad Kālepa Baybayan, Milton “Shorty” Bertelmann, Bruce Blankenfelt, and Chadd ʻŌnohi Paishon. Piailug passed in 2010, but thanks to him, Hawaiʻi has reclaimed traditional navigational ʻike and is training new generations of Hawaiian navigators.

Hōkūleʻa’s creation and inaugural voyage during the 1970s was a key part of the “Hawaiian Renaissance” – a time of renewal for Native Hawaiians and among the first steps taken to reclaim our history, culture, traditions, language and identity. Today, there are seven double-hulled Hawaiian open-ocean voyaging canoes in use across the pae ʻāina.

Hōkūleʻa has not only inspired generations of Native Hawaiians; over the years she has inspired other Indigenous Pacific peoples to reclaim their own voyaging traditions. Each voyage of Hōkūleʻa has brought new insights and revelations about the voyaging traditions of our ancestors. It is an understatement to describe her impact as profound.

Since she first touched the ocean in 1975, Hōkūleʻa has sailed more than 250,000 nautical miles. This includes her notable Mālama Honua Voyage (2013-2017) a circumnavigation of the planet. On this epic journey she logged 47,000 nautical miles and connected with people in 18 nations and hundreds of port around the world, sailing from Moananuiākea (the Pacific Ocean) to the Indian Ocean, around the Cape of Good Hope (South Africa), across the Atlantic Ocean into the Caribbean, then through the Panama Canal and back to Moananuiākea.

In June 2023, Hōkūleʻa, along with sister canoe Hikianalia, began her 15th major voyage: Moananuiākea. The ambitious, four-year expedition will include some 400 crew members and sail an estimated 43,000 nautical miles around the Pacific stopping at 345 ports in 36 countries. However, the journey was paused out of respect for the ʻohana at home affected by the Maui wildfires and the the canoes returned to Hawaiʻi in December 2023. For the past year, Hōkūleʻa and Hikianalia have sailed around the pae ʻāina to help educate, inspire and heal our community.

The Moananuiākea Voyage is set to resume this month after Hōkūleʻa’s 50th anniversary celebration concludes.