Nainoa Thompson

Nainoa Thompson (center) with actor Jason Scott Lee (left) and artist Layne Luna (right). Photo taken in 2003 at Hilo, Hawai'i.

Charles Nainoa Thompson (born March 11, 1953, Oahu, Hawaii^[1]) is a Native Hawaiian navigator and the executive director of the Polynesian Voyaging Society. He is best known as the first Hawaiian to practice the ancient Polynesian art of navigation since the 14th century, having navigated two double-hulled canoes (the Hokule‘a and the Hawai‘iloa) from Hawaiʻi to other island nations in Polynesia without the aid of western instruments.

Early life and career

Hokule'a sailing off Honolulu, 2009

Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, Thompson graduated from Punahou School in 1972 and earned a BA in Ocean Science in 1986 from the University of Hawai`i.^[2] Thompson was trained by master navigator Mau Piailug from the island of Satawal and assisted him on the first voyage of the Hokule‘a in 1976.

His first solo voyage was from Hawaiʻi to Tahiti in 1980. Since then, Thompson has been the lead navigator on the subsequent voyages of Hokule‘a, including the Voyage of Rediscovery from 1985 to 1987.

On March 18, 2007, Thompson and four other native Hawaiian navigators were inducted into Pwo as master navigators. The ceremony was conducted by Piailug on Satawal.

Currently

Thompson currently serves as the Chair of the Board of Trustees for Kamehameha Schools (a post that his father Myron "Pinky" Thompson also held), and a member of the Board of Regents for the University of Hawaiʻi.

Family and personal life

Thompson is married to KHON-TV2 television anchor Kathy Muneno.

References

1. ^ Low, Sam; Sam Low (2007). "Nainoa Thompson's Path to Knowledge: How Hokulea's Navigator Finds his Way". In Howe, K. R.. Vaka Moana: Voyages of the Ancestors. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 978-0-8248-3213-1. 
2. ^ Biography from Kamehameha Schools

Further reading

• Lal, Brij V.; Kate Fortune (2000). The Pacific Islands. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. p. 81. ISBN 9780824822651. 

External links

• Biography from the UH Institute for Astronomy
• Biography from Kamehameha Schools

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Name	Thompson, Nainoa
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Date of birth	1953
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