June 16th, 2017: Hōkūleʻa

[xoxoxoBruce]

Today. To Hawaii. Hōkūleʻa. From a three voyage around the world, during which it sailed five oceans, visited 19 countries
and sailed more than 40,000 nautical miles. This in a 62 ft(18.9m) Polynesian ocean sailing canoe, using ancient navigational
techniques the Europeans didn’t understand or believe existed.

The latest round-the-world voyage, called “Mālama Honua” (which in Hawaiian means “to care for our island Earth”) aims
especially to focus public attention on the worsening plight of the world’s oceans.
Thompson says he has seen big changes in the sea since he started voyaging in the 1970s. Nowadays when the crew fishes
to supplement their diet, the catch is meager. “We recently sailed 1,100 [kilometers] from Mauritius to Madagascar
without catching a single fish,” he says. “Fully 90 percent of the edible fish have already been taken out of the seas.”

The Polynesian boat has been refined over millennia, as has the art of “wayfinding” used to make their way from island
to island. Memorizing dozens if not hundreds of stars, land birds and their habits/ranges, different types of waves peculiar
to sections of the ocean, how each island reflects/radiates waves, and much, much more.
Pretty impressive for dumb brown people, eh?



Much, much more at the link.

[lumberjim]

A three what voyage? Years? Months?

[footfootfoot]

Obviously didn't watch Gilligan's Island. It's a three hour cruise, d'uh.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Three years, but the purpose wasn't just to make the voyage, but to edumacate the folks around the world that history written by Europeans is wrong.

[glatt]

This "wayfinding" is awesome. Some people have a better sense of direction than others, and I wonder if they are using some part of their brain or senses that the rest of folks just aren't tapped into? Noticing the subtle cues around us like crisscrossing wave patterns and different birds.

Thompson was trained in the vanishing Pacific art of “wayfinding” by Mau Piailug of Micronesia—one of the last of the traditionally schooled navigators—who died in 2010. Following Piailug’s instructions, the Hōkūleʻa has been guided entirely without modern navigational aids such as nautical charts, compasses and GPS, instead relying on observation of the position of celestial bodies, the direction of waves and the movement of seabirds to set its course. To accurately maintain their bearing at night, the Hōkūleʻa navigators had to memorize the nightly courses of more than 200 stars, along with their precise rising and setting locations on the horizon.

[footfootfoot]

This article goes into detail about how it's done.

http://cellar.org/showpost.php?p=974636&postcount=5

[captainhook455]

They don't have a clue about fishing. Use some broken back minnies, a stiff rod with 15lb test and sit back while trolling. Another thing is to bring freeze dried food for emergency eating. Did they bring fresh water or depend on acid rain. Must've been a hungary bunch.