Hokulea is pictured at the shore of Kualoa Regional Park after its 50th birthday commemoration in Kaneohe, Hawaii. -AP
HAWAII’s American colonisers once banned the Hawaiian language in schools. Some native Hawaiians even attempted to lighten their skin with lye.
Many believed that Polynesian voyagers had simply stumbled upon the islands by drifting on logs.
But a canoe launched half a century ago helped shift Hawaiian culture from a source of shame to one of immense pride, reviving the ancient skill of navigating the seas by decoding the stars, waves and weather.
That vessel – a double-hulled sailing canoe called Hokulea, named after the Hawaiian word for the star Arcturus – would later inspire Disney’s Moana and spark a revival of Polynesian wayfinding traditions.
To mark the milestone, Hokulea’s early crew members gathered on March 8 for ceremonial hula and kava drinking at the Oahu beach where the canoe was first launched in 1975 and where they began their training sails.
Crew members training on the Hokulea canoe in waters off Kualoa on Oahu, Hawaii, in this file photo from April 1975. — AP
Vessel of discovery and justice
“It’s a vehicle of exploration. It’s a vehicle of discovery,” said Nainoa Thompson, CEO of the Polynesian Voyaging Society.
“It’s also been our vehicle for justice as native Hawaiians, as Pacific Islanders, as a very unique, special culture of the Earth.”
In 1980, Thompson became the first Hawaiian in six centuries to navigate to Tahiti without a compass or modern instruments – a journey spanning about 4,300km.
Thompson, now 71, recalls the painful stories his grandmother shared, shaped by the US-backed overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom in 1893.
She had been beaten for speaking Hawaiian at school, and her uncle had attempted to scrub his brown skin with lye.
“If her children tried to be Hawaiian, they would get hurt in the new society,” Thompson said.
“So you have to become something else.”
A resurgence of Hawaiian pride in the late 1960s and 1970s ignited a cultural renaissance.
A file photo of men blow conch shells to welcome the Hokulea voyaging canoe into Kailua Bay in Kailua, Hawaii. -AP
Artist Herb Kane, inspired by European explorers’ drawings, envisioned reconstructing a traditional Polynesian double- hulled canoe with towering triangular sails.
At the time, many still believed Polynesians had settled in the islands by accident.
Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl theorised that Polynesians had arrived from South America, pushed westward by prevailing winds and currents.
In 1947, he set out to prove this by floating from Peru on a log raft.
He landed in the Tuamotu Islands north of Tahiti and wrote a best-selling book.
Heyerdahl’s theory gained traction, despite generations of Hawaiian oral history describing voyages from distant lands – such as Kahiki, possibly present-day Tahiti – by canoe, bringing plants like ulu (breadfruit).
Kane, University of Hawaii archaeologist Ben Finney, and Honolulu surfer Tommy Holmes sought to challenge the drifting log hypothesis.
They founded the Polynesian Voyaging Society and aimed to sail a canoe to Tahiti using only traditional methods.
This photo from April 1975 shows crew members training on the Hokulea canoe in waters off the windward coast of Oahu, Hawaii. — AP
The ancient art of wayfinding
With long-distance voyaging skills nearly extinct, the society found Pius “Mau” Piailug, a master navigator from Micronesia’s Satawal atoll, who had been trained since childhood.
In 1976, Piailug guided Hokulea from Hawaii to Tahiti.
Some 17,000 people swarmed the Tahitian shore to witness what one crew member called “the spaceship of our ancestors”.
John Waihe’e, then a young delegate to Hawaii’s 1978 constitutional convention, said Hokulea’s triumph fuelled the movement to make Hawaiian an official state language and establish the Office of Hawaiian Affairs to support native Hawaiians.
“It helped us believe in everything that we were doing,” said Waihe’e, who later became Hawaii’s first native governor.
Today, Hawaiian language immersion programmes exist in two dozen schools, and census data shows over 27,000 people in Hawaii – and 34,000 across the US –speak Hawaiian at home.
Abraham ‘Snake’ Ah Hee, a member of Hokulea’s first return trip from Tahiti to Hawaii in 1976 (centre) drinking ‘awa’ or kava, during Hokulea’s 50th birthday commemoration at Kualoa Regional Park in Kaneohe, Hawaii. — AP
Tragedy and a new era
In 1978, Hokulea faced a devastating setback. An ill-prepared crew set sail for Tahiti in poor weather and the canoe capsized just hours after departing.
Crew member Eddie Aikau paddled off on his surfboard to seek help.
While the US Coast Guard rescued the canoe, Aikau was never found.
The Polynesian Voyaging Society responded by overhauling its approach, implementing rigorous training and clear objectives.
Thompson immersed himself in navigation, studying at a Honolulu planetarium and training under Piailug for over a year.
In 1980, he successfully navigated Hokulea to Tahiti.
He described feeling an immense obligation to fulfil Aikau’s dream of following their ancestors’ path and “pulling Tahiti out of the sea”.
“I didn’t celebrate when we arrived,” Thompson said.
“I just went into a quiet, dark place and told Eddie we pulled it out of the sea. There’s no high fives. It’s too profound.”
Bruce Blankenfeld, the leader of Polynesian Voyaging Society, receiving an offering during Hokulea’s 50th birthday celebration at Kualoa Regional Park in Kaneohe, Hawaii. — AP
A global impact
Since then, Hokulea has voyaged across the Pacific and around the world, reaching places like New Zealand, Japan, South Africa and New York.
It inspired a renaissance in Polynesian wayfinding.
In Rapa Nui (Easter Island), islanders have embarked on long-distance canoe voyages.
The University of Guam now has a navigation programme.
Similar revivals have emerged in the Cook Islands, French Polynesia, Samoa and Tonga, said Mary Therese Perez Hattori, director of the Pacific Islands Development Programme at the East-West Centre.
“We come from very, very ancient societies,” said Hattori, who is Chamorro, the indigenous people of the Mariana Islands. “Hokulea helped remind the world of this.”
Kamehameha Schools Hawaiian Ensemble dancers performing during Hokulea’s 50th birthday celebration at Kualoa Regional Park in Kaneohe, Hawaii. — AP
From ocean to the big screen
Hokulea’s influence reached global audiences in 2016 when Disney released Moana, an animated film set in ancient Polynesia about a young girl who learns the art of wayfinding.
Thompson consulted with Disney’s creative team, emphasising the cultural significance of canoes and navigation.
Hawaii-born screenwriter Aaron Kandell, who trained with the Polynesian Voyaging Society in his 20s, wove real-life navigation techniques into Moana’s story – such as tracking stars with an outstretched hand and feeling ocean currents with fingertips.
Crew members even advised animators on details like how coconut-fibre ropes should appear when Moana pulls on them.
Journey that changed everything
Initially, the Polynesian Voyaging Society had planned just a single voyage to Tahiti, supporting a documentary, book and research. But Hokulea’s legacy became much greater.
Thompson recalls the moment in 1975 when he and the crew pushed Hokulea’s hull into the water for the first time.
“It was really a moment – I didn’t recognise it then – but this was going to change everything,” he said. — AP
