Polynesian Voyaging Society Announces Voyage to Tahiti
Polynesian Voyaging Society Announces Voyage to Tahiti
The “Kealaikahiki Voyage” to focus on succession, cultural protocol and ocean rights Polynesian voyaging canoes Hōkūleʻa and Hikianalia are getting ready to set sail on theancient sea road of Kealaikahiki to Hawaiʻi’s ancestral homeland of Tahiti. The “Kealaikahiki Voyage” will focus on navigational training and cultural protocol to prepare the crew and test the canoes before they embark on the Moananuiākea Voyage next year. While in French Polynesia, voyaging leaders will also be participating in the Blue Climate Summit, a high-level meeting to discuss ocean protection and climate change. The canoes are tentatively scheduled to depart Sand Island, Oʻahu on March 30, 2022 (weather permitting) and will arrive in Papeete, Tahiti at the end of April.
As part of the Polynesian Voyaging Society’s (PVS) succession plan, next generation voyaging leaders will captain and navigate the two canoes to Tahiti. Lehua Kamalu will captain Hōkūleʻa; on this voyage she will become the first woman to captain and navigate a canoe from Hawaiʻi to Tahiti. On Hikianalia, Pwo navigator Bruce Blankenfeld will be training two captains, Kaniela Lyman-Mersereau and Kaleo Wong. The deep-sea leg is designed to train crew who will become the captains and navigators who lead the Moananuiākea Voyage.
“2022 is truly a building year for PVS. With this Tahiti Voyage and through July we will be conducting 8,000 miles of deep-sea leadership training focused on captains and navigators who will take the canoes around the Pacific for the Moananuiākea Voyage,” said Pwo navigator and PVS CEO Nainoa Thompson. “If the state of COVID-19 allows it, we will train 220 new crew members from the end of this voyage through 2023. We plan to sail 3,000 miles around the state, connecting with schools and communities in 25 different ports,” Thompson added.
In addition to immersive navigational and crew training, one of the main purposes of the “Kealaikahiki Voyage” is to follow the ancient voyaging protocol of sailing to the sacred navigational heiau of Taputapuātea in Raʻiātea, French Polynesia to seek permission to launch a major voyage. Taputapuātea’s cultural elders will conduct highly sacred ceremonies to affirm the Kealaikahiki sea road and to consecrate Hōkūleʻa and Hikianalia as sacred vessels of heritage carrying the mana (spirit) of Polynesia throughout the vast Pacific on the Moananuiākea Voyage.
Following the cultural ceremonies in Tahiti, PVS CEO and Pwo navigator, Nainoa Thompson will co-convene the The Blue Climate Summit, which will be held in French Polynesia on May 14-20, 2022, to accelerate ocean-related solutions to climate change. The Blue Climate Summit is an endorsed action of the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development and is co-hosted with the Government of French Polynesia. More than 250 leaders, scientists, engineers, community, business, youth, policymakers, conservationists and influencers are expected to come together to accelerate solutions to some of the greatest challenges facing humankind.
With regards to the COVID-19 pandemic, PVS’ medical team has been closely following case numbers and information, and have updated and will continue to update its plans and protocols accordingly. The voyage to Tahiti has been postponed three times over the last two years due to the pandemic.
“Our priority is the health and safety not only of our own crew and their families, but of our community and the communities that graciously allow us to visit,” said PVS medical officer Dr. Seren Tokumura. “We are currently seeing Tahiti’s numbers of COVID-19 infections and deaths matching the trends worldwide, and with our current health and safety protocols in place, we feel that we are ready to return to Tahiti at this time.”
Hōkūleʻa and Hikianalia are scheduled to return to Oʻahu around June 15, 2022.
Major sponsors continuing to support the voyaging efforts of PVS include Atherton Family Foundation, Shaw US Foundation, Nakupuna Foundation, Kamehameha Schools Bishop Estate, Sealaska Foundation, Harold K.L. Castle Foundation, HEI, Hawaiian Electric, American Savings Bank, Hawaii Tourism Authority, Matson, Hawaiian Airlines, and the Omidyar ‘Ohana.
About Polynesian Voyaging Society
The Polynesian Voyaging Society was founded in 1973 on a legacy of Pacific Ocean exploration, seeking to perpetuate the art and science of traditional Polynesian voyaging and the spirit of exploration through experiential educational programs that inspire students and their communities to respect and care for themselves, one another, and their natural and cultural environments. For more information about the Polynesian Voyaging Society and the Worldwide Voyage, visit www.hokulea.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.
Mālama Honua Fair and Summit a Great Success!
The Mālama Honua Homecoming Fair and Summit was a great success. For three days, local and global community members gathered together to discuss stories of hope inspired by or collected during the Worldwide Voyage, with the intention of developing a new sail plan for the islands of Hawai`i and our island Earth. The Fair and Summit was open to the general public, and included canoe tours, information booths, film screenings, walk-through exhibits and hands-on activities, as well as opportunities to connect with individuals, groups and organizations taking actions both locally and globally to mālama honua.
The Homecoming Summit also included larger keynote events, like the World Youth Congress Summit. Polynesian Voyaging Society, in collaboration with the World Youth Congress invited young people from across the World to celebrate mālama honua stories and to create a collective call to action to the next generation in coming up with a new sail plan for the future stewardship of the planet.
Another keynote event of the Summit was the International Speaker Series, which featured courageous and inspiring individuals who are navigating towards a more just and sustainable future for island Earth. Featured speakers included: Nainoa Thompson, Megan Smith, Dieter Paulmann, Sylvia Earle, Jean-Michel Cousteau, Captain Don Walsh, Reverend Mpho Tutu van Furth, and Alaska Lt. Governor Byron Mallott.
On the final day of the Mālama Honua Summit, individuals from across the state, as well as the continental U.S. and Australia, came together to have an amazing conversation about the work they or their organizations were already doing to mālama honua, and what work they would like to be doing in the future. The more than 100 attendees represented a mixed bag of public and private sectors, for profit and nonprofit organizations, and educational and governmental institutions. And although they came from vastly different places, they came together with the common goal to connect with like-minded groups and individuals to find ways to support and accelerate current mālama honua initiatives, as well as to develop and initiate new ones.
Organizations like NOAA, DLNR, DOFAW, Surfrider, 808 CleanUps, the
Classroom Connections | C2C: Mr. Sugiyama’s Classroom
Last month, teachers from around O`ahu met at Wai`anae Intermediate School for a Canoe 2 Classroom Workshop that featured lessons developed by Gary Sugiyama, Special Education and Resource teacher at Waipahu High School. Gary currently teaches higher level math courses like Geometry, Trigonometry, and Algebra 2. Many of his students only take these upper level classes to satisfy a course requirement for graduation. They often have a long history of struggle in mathematics and rarely see themselves as capable when they enter Mr. Sugiyama’s class. And yet, Gary has found that making connections between the mathematical concepts he is trying to teach his students and the canoe helps the students to be more engaged with the subject, and as a result, find more success in learning. Complex mathematical information and jargon is broken down and can be viewed through a lens of local knowledge and vocabulary.
In Geometry class, Gary teaches foundational concepts and core vocabulary through the Hawaiian Star Compass, developed by Nainoa Thompson and used by navigators to steer Hōkūle`a around the world. In constructing their own Star Compass students learn about lines, segments, angles, bisectors, and circles. In addition to theoretical and technical knowledge, students gain drawing and construction skills through hands on activities that utilize traditional classroom tools like rulers, compasses and protractors.
For his Trigonometry class, Mr. Sugiyama uses the sails, mast and rigging of a voyaging canoe to help students gain a foundation in SOH CAH TOA. Otherwise known to the Math teacher or engineer as the basic trigonometric ratios. The right triangles created by the mast, stays, shrouds, and sails provide a perfect playground for exploring the ins and outs of the sine, cosine, and tangent functions.
Students gain insightful knowledge about ratios and congruence, while acquiring useful skills of measurement and construction. They can see, touch and feel the importance of Math in their lives and in the world around them.
Mr. Sugiyama, with the guidance and support of Linda Furato and graduates of her Ethnomathematics course at the University of Hawai`i, has also developed a lo`i design project. Inspired by the notion of the use of aquaponics systems to address issues of sustainability and food production, Gary challenges his students to design a lo`i or loko (fishpond). Initially, students work in pairs to research the different types of lo`i and loko used by the indigenous Hawaiians. Once the students have decided on the type of system they want to design and where they would like to build it, they must then base their ideas on the general tide, wave and current patterns that exists in their chosen location. The students must also consider the mauka and makai conditions that may affect the lo`i or loko environment, as well as the surrounding coastal environment. Through this student driven STEAM project, students are able to integrate a variety of subjects and skills including from art, design, reading, writing, critical thinking, and public speaking to name a few!
Do you want to connect with Mr. Sugiyama and try one of his lessons? Do you have great ideas on how to connect your classroom to the canoe and mālama honua through activities, lessons and units? Come on down and jam on lesson plan ideas with us! Contact education@pvshawaii.org for more information on upcoming C2C workshops and other educator opportunities!
We also hope to see you at Homecoming on June 17th and the Mālama Honua Summit to follow!
(Photo Credits: Gary Sugiyama)
Hōkūleʻa Update | June 05, 2017
Crew Blog by Nāʻālehu Anthony
The Turn
Tonight brought the kind of gifts that our navigators have been waiting for for days. Thankfully it came right at the right time. If you have been reading the blogs before this you know that the weather has not been as kind to us as we would have liked, but we also know it could have been a lot worse. The 100% cloud cover for days was one of the biggest challenges for all of us, as there are less visual clues for navigators and steerspeople to hold our course. One of the blessings, however, was wind. We had a tremendous amount of wind all the way through this trip, which we are grateful for. We have heard the stories of previous crews trying to make it through the ITCZ or doldrums and getting stuck there for two weeks, as the region is known to have very little wind at different times in the year. While that didn’t happen to us, we still needed to see the stars at some point to reinforce what the dead reckoning was telling the navigation staff.
Seeing the Southern Cross wasn’t as important to us a week ago. We knew that we were sailing as far east as we could each day so we are confident that we are to the east of Hawai’i, but what we needed to know was how far north we are and when is the right time to turn west to Hawaiʻi. In the lessons taught to the navigators by both Nainoa and Bruce they learn that the two best ways to know your latitude in going to Hawaiʻi is measuring the North Star and the Southern Cross, with the cross being much more useful than Hoku paʻa (the North Star) because of the really neat thing that happens in the cross. At the latitude of the middle of Hawaiʻi, the Southern Cross at meridian (at its highest point) is the same distance from the top star to the bottom star as it is from the bottom star to the horizon. And so this morning after a dead reckoning (DR) estimation of 2076 miles along the reference course line and 17.5 degrees of estimated latitude, it was critical that we got to see the cross to confirm the estimations.
Sunset came with the moon high in the sky. We had some cloud cover but the southern sky was opening. As the sun sunk lower and lower, taking with it the light on the horizon, the stars slowly emerged. The anticipation was an easy read on the faces of the entire navigation staff. Just a little darker and the cross slowly appeared just before meridian. Immediately, we had 5 sets of hands up in the air trying to measure the distance between the bottom star and the horizon. The naked eye could tell that the distance was more than the distance of the stars in the cross but the critical part was just how much, so that we could know if our DR was close to the actual latitude as told by the stars. After many minutes of discussion, and measuring and re-measuring, it was agreed that the cross was between 8 and 9 degrees off the horizon. This confirmed that we were between 18 and 19 degrees North latitude.
No sooner than the cross turned out of meridian did the clouds come in and cover up our stars. While short lived, the gift was there just long enough to make sure our navigators got the confirmation they needed to move forward with confidence. These are some of the makana we have had along our way that give us just what we need to find our way out here. Mahalo ke Akua. We are humbled and grateful.
Me ka haʻahaʻa,
Nāʻālehu
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