Story: Canoe navigation

The Hōkūle‘a, 1985

In 1975 the anthropologist Ben Finney of the Polynesian Voyaging Society in Hawaii organised the construction of a 20-metre double-hulled canoe, the Hōkūle‘a, which Micronesian navigator Mau Piailug successfully guided from Hawaii to Tahiti and back in 1976. The design was based on the Polynesians' primary voyaging craft, with two hulls connected by lashed crossbeams. Watch the Hōkūle‘a arriving in New Zealand in 1985, during a two-year voyage around the Pacific.

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How to cite this page:

Rāwiri Taonui, 'Canoe navigation - Decline and renaissance of canoe voyaging', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/video/2235/the-hokulea-1985 (accessed 29 March 2024)

Story by Rāwiri Taonui, published 8 Feb 2005