Construction and Purpose
Ancient voyaging canoes were a specialized type of wooden sailing vessel used in ancient Hawaiʻi, whereas Hōkūle‘a is built of plywood, fiberglass and resin. Hōkūle‘a measures 61 feet 5 inches (18.7 m) LOA, 15 feet 6 inches (4.72 m) at beam, displaces 16,000 pounds (7,260 kg) when empty and can carry another 11,000 pounds (4,990 kg) between gear, supplies, and 12 to 16 crew. Fully laden, with her 540-square-foot (50.2 m2) sail area, she is capable of speeds of 4 to 6 knots (5 to 7 mph; 7 to 10 km/h) while reaching in 15-to-25-knot (17 to 29 mph; 28 to 46 km/h) trade winds. Her twin masts are rigged either crab claw or Marconi style and she flies a small jib; she is steered with a long paddle. She has no auxiliary motor so she is towed into harbor by her escort vessel when required. Her name means "star of gladness" in Hawaiian, which refers to Arcturus, a guiding zenith star for Hawaiian navigators. In layman's terms, Arcturus passes directly overhead at Hawaiʻi's latitude so it helps sailors find Hawaiʻi.
Description of Hōkūle‘a, the boat, is only part of her story, since she is navigated by non-instrument means. But in 1975, no Hawaiian living knew these ancient techniques for blue water voyaging. To enable the voyage, the Polynesian Voyaging Society recruited the Satawalese Master Navigator Mau Piailug to share his knowledge of non-instrument navigation. While up to six Micronesian navigators still used these traditional methods as of the mid-1970s, only Mau was willing to share his knowledge with the Polynesians.
Mau, who "barely spoke English," realized that by reaching beyond his own culture, through sharing what had been closely guarded knowledge, he could possibly save it from loss. Through his collaboration with the Polynesian Voyaging Society, Mau's mentorship has helped "spark pride in the Hawaiian and Polynesian culture", leading to "a renaissance of voyaging, canoe building, and non-instrument navigation that has continued to grow, spreading across Polynesia (map) and reaching to its far corners of Aotearoa and Rapanui ." (Thompson, Reflections on Mau Piailug, 1996)
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