- Polynesian Voyaging Society
The Polynesian Voyaging Society (PVS) is a non-profit research and educational corporation based in Honolulu, Hawaiokinai. PVS was established to research and perpetuate traditional
Polynesia n voyaging methods. Using replicas of traditional double-hulled canoes, PVS undertakes voyages throughout Polynesia navigating without modern instruments.History
The society was foundedcite web |url= http://www.hanahou.com/pages/Magazine.asp?Action=DrawArticle&ArticleID=608&MagazineID=38 |title= Among the Stars |author= Julia Steele, photos by Monte Costa |work=
Hana Hou! Vol. 10, No. 4 |date= September/October 2007 |quote= ] in 1973 by nautical anthropologistBen Finney , Hawaiian artistHerb Kawainui Kane , and sailor Charles Tommy Holmes. The three wanted to show that ancient Polynesians could have purposely settled thePolynesian Triangle using non-instrument navigation. The first PVS project was to build a replica of a double-hulled voyaging canoe.Hokuleokinaa
On
March 8 ,1975 , the first voyaging canoe to be built in the Hawaiian Islands in over 600 years was launched with captainKawika Kapahulehua and crew. Named the "Hōkūleʻa", it left Hawaiokinai onMay 1 ,1976 forTahiti in an attempt to retrace the ancient voyaging route.Micronesia n navigatorMau Piailug , using no instruments, successfully navigated the canoe to Tahiti, arriving there onJune 3 ,1976 .After an attempted voyage to
Tahiti in 1978 was aborted when the "Hokuleokinaa" capsized near Lānaokinai and crew memberEddie Aikau was lost at sea, Piailug trainedNainoa Thompson in the ancient navigation methods. Two years later in 1980, Thompson replicated the successful 1976 voyage to Tahiti, becoming the first modern Hawaiian to master the art of Polynesian navigation.Since that voyage, the "Hokuleokinaa" and her sister canoe the "Hawaiokinailoa" have undertaken voyages to other islands in Polynesia, including
Samoa ,Tonga , andNew Zealand .Alingano Maisu
On
January 23 ,2007 the "Hokuleokinaa" and the "Alingano Maisu " set sail on a voyage to Micronesia andJapan . In March, 2007 the canoes arrived at Piailug's home island ofSatawal where five native Hawaiians and sixteen others were inducted intoPwo as master navigators. The event was the first Pwo ceremony on Satawal in 50 years and the "Alingano Maisu" was presented to Piailug as a gift for his contribution in revivingwayfinding navigation.References
* Ben R. Finney; "Sailing in the Wake of the Ancestors: Reviving Polynesian Voyaging" (Bishop Museum Press, 2004 ISBN 1-58178-025-7)
* Ben R. Finney; "Voyage of Rediscovery: A Cultural Odyssey Through Polynesia" (University of California Press, 1994 ISBN 0-520-08002-5)
* Will Kyselka; "An Ocean in Mind" (University of Hawaii Press, 1987 ISBN 0-8248-1112-7)
* David Lewis; "We, the Navigators: The Ancient Art of Landfinding in the Pacific" (University of Hawaii Press; 1994 ISBN 0-8248-1582-3)External links
* [http://pvs.kcc.hawaii.edu/welcome.html Polynesian Voyaging Society] official site
* [http://www.moolelo.com/hokulea.html Voyages with Hokule'a] A personal web site
* [http://starbulletin.com/2007/03/18/news/story04.html Navigators' journey of spirit, skill ends]
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