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Hawaiians are sailing around the world navigating by stars

by Melia Robinson on 3 Jan 2016
Hokulea worldwide voyage Na' Alehu Anthony
Life aboard the Hokule'a, a traditional Polynesian voyaging canoe on a mission to sail around the world, sounds like paradise. Crew members take shifts steering and caring for the 40-year-old vessel, swapping stories over plates of line-caught fish, and sleeping under the stars.

The 62-foot-long, double-hulled canoe set out from the Hawaiian shores in 2013. It will cover more than 60,000 nautical miles by the end of its journey, which is scheduled to finish in 2017.

There's just one catch: You can't use modern navigation instruments aboard the Hokule'a. Crew members must use only the sun and the stars to get themselves from point A to B.



The crew is careful to plot a course that allows the canoe to reach its destination by sailing downwind, which saves time and energy. © Bryson Hoe
The crew is careful to plot a course that allows the canoe to reach its destination by sailing downwind, which saves time and energy. © Bryson Hoe



"There's an order to the natural pulse of the night sky," Baybayan says. "You just need to internalize its rhythm." © Aina Paiki


The sun and the stars rise in the east, move across the horizon, and set in the west, providing bearing points. The crew orients the canoe based on those movements. © Aina Paiki
The sun and the stars rise in the east, move across the horizon, and set in the west, providing bearing points. The crew orients the canoe based on those movements. © Aina Paiki


Today, young people study wayfaring as a means of reconnecting with their heritage. Baybayan says it's easier than it sounds. © Scittie Kanda
Today, young people study wayfaring as a means of reconnecting with their heritage. Baybayan says it's easier than it sounds. © Scittie Kanda



"We lost our techniques of navigation several centuries ago, when our people stopped traveling," Baybayan says, referring to the Westernization of island cultures. © Aina Paiki


For Captain Kalepa Baybayan, who first sailed on the Hokule'a in 1980, the method pays a beautiful homage to indigenous history. © Scittie Kanda
For Captain Kalepa Baybayan, who first sailed on the Hokule'a in 1980, the method pays a beautiful homage to indigenous history. © Scittie Kanda


The crew relies instead on traditional
The crew relies instead on traditional "wayfinding" techniques, using observations of the stars, the sun, the ocean swells, and other natural world clues for guidance. © Aina Paiki


Hokule'a set out from the Hawaiian Islands in 2013 on a mission to circumnavigate the globe without the use of modern navigation instruments. © Polynesia Voyaging Society
Hokule'a set out from the Hawaiian Islands in 2013 on a mission to circumnavigate the globe without the use of modern navigation instruments. © Polynesia Voyaging Society


The first Hawaiians used the same style of canoe to arrive at the island chain more than 1,000 years ago. The last one like it was built over 600 years ago. © Robert Johnson
The first Hawaiians used the same style of canoe to arrive at the island chain more than 1,000 years ago. The last one like it was built over 600 years ago. © Robert Johnson


This is the Hokule'a, a working replica of a traditional Hawaiian voyaging canoe. © Kaipo Ki' Aha
This is the Hokule'a, a working replica of a traditional Hawaiian voyaging canoe. © Kaipo Ki' Aha


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