Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Craft that settled Polynesia visits Cape
AS THE crow flies, the distance between Hawaii and South Africa is roughly 20 000km.
But the traditional Polynesian voyaging canoe Hokule’a which is heading for Cape Town has already sailed thousands of kilometres further than this, using the stars, clouds, seabird behaviour and ocean swells for navigation.
The canoe, which left Hawaii in 2013, is on a fouryear, 84 000km expedition to circumnavigate the world. On its way to the Mother City it has visited the Cook islands, Tonga, Tahiti, Australia, New Zealand and Mauritius.
The 62- ft double- hulled Hokule’a reached the African coast at Richards Bay on October 19, after crossing the Indian Ocean.
There the crew met Zulu elders and toured the iSimangaliso Wetland Park and Saint Lucia Estuary, before continuing to Durban, where they took advantage of good weather to do some surfing.
The canoe will stop off in East London, before sailing to Cape Town, where it is expected to arrive around November 21.
It will will berth at the V&A Waterfront’s North Wharf.
The expedition’s organisers said the purpose of the ambitious voyage was to celebrate traditional Polynesian seafar- ing, advocate for sustainable conservation, and spread the concept of Malama honua, a Hawaiian phrase that means “to care for our island Earth”.
The Hokule’a is a replica of the celebrated historical voyaging canoes, or wa’a kaulua, that were used to settle the Pacific Islands centuries ago.
It was built in Honolulu, Hawaii in 1975, based on sketches of historical Polynesian canoes and has served as an ambassador for the island’s seafaring heritage ever since.
By successfully sailing from Hawaii to Tahiti in 1976, it proved it could master the open ocean but the round-the-world voyage is by far its most challenging expedition yet.
While modern vessels make use of a plethora of navigation aids such as GPS, the navigators of the Hokule’a use wayfinding to plot their course across the world’s biggest oceans.
“On board, there is no compass, sextant, or cellphone, watch, or GPS for direction. We are sailing like our ancestors have for 1 000 years,” the crew say on their website.
According to the Polynesian Voyaging Society, which organised the expedition, a “star compass” is key to guiding the vessel.
“Navigators memorise the positions of over 200 stars and watch the rising and setting of stars to help determine the location of the canoe in relation to the destination.
“Marked grooves in the vessel are lined up with stars near the horizon to provide a point of reference, and help maintain orientation to the course.”
The canoe, and its support vessel the Hikianalia, are set to visit more than 100 ports in 27 nations, before returning to Hawaii around June 2017.
After leaving South Africa, the Hokule’a will make its way to the coast of Brazil, and is expected to make landfall by February.
● To check the canoe’s position in real time see napali .org/pvs_wwvh.
You can follow the expedition on Twitter at @HokuleaWWV.