Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Legendary Hawaii canoe embarks on global odyssey

The Hokulea sailing canoe, seen off Honolulu in April, will navigate using no modern instrumentation. (Associated Press)
Sam Eifling Associated Press

HONOLULU – To take the Hokulea for a spin off the coast of Oahu is to see the Hawaiian islands in perhaps the same way as their discoverers did hundreds of years ago. Those seafarers likely arrived on a boat resembling the double-hulled canoe, bridged by a modest deck, compelled by three sails, steered by a rudder, its components held fast with ropes rather than screws or nails.

Weather willing, the 62-foot vessel is scheduled to leave Hawaii on Monday on its longest-ever ocean voyage. Relying on wind and stars to guide it, the Hokulea will chase the horizon for 47,000 miles, dropping anchor at 85 ports on six continents.

“We could be sailing around the world on a high-end yacht, but we’re not,” said Chad Kalepa Baybayan, one of five master navigators who take shifts on the Hokulea. “This is a cultural project for us. It has a lot of spiritual meaning.”

The three-year tour will head roughly south and west from Hawaii past Australia, around the Cape of Good Hope, to the Americas, and back via the Panama Canal.

The craft’s 1976 first voyage, a round trip to Tahiti, demonstrated for the first time in centuries the efficacy of ancient Polynesian way-finding and boat design. The canoe became an icon amid an ongoing renaissance in Native Hawaiian language and culture.