Children are shown the bow rigging on a tour of the Hokulea voyaging canoe. A double-hulled Hawaiian voyaging canoe 62’ long and 22’ wide, first launched in 1975, the Hokulea and sister canoe Hikianalia are being readied to depart Hawaii for Alaska where they will begin a four year circumnavigation of the Pacific. The voyage will be the Hokulea’s 15th major voyage in nearly fifty years and is being undertaken as “Moananuikea; A Voyage for the Earth” with the stated goal of causing “people to care for and make better choices for the earth” as a reaction and response to the crises of global warming and ecological depredation. The voyage will travel 42,000 miles with stops in the Americas, Polynesia, and Asia and be completed without aid of navigational equipment other than the knowledge and experience of the traditional Polynesian navigators aboard, wayfinding by the stars, sun, winds, currents, and creatures of the ocean.
This is going to be another light one, I was on Maui yesterday for the big event, and big it was. Rarely am I able to make pictures of so many greats—giants of human endeavor—as I was able to yesterday. But I am beat, took a long-ish swim today out around the point at Makapu‘u Beach in beautiful, glassy south wind conditions (the tiny point heading toward the research pier, not Makapu‘u Point—I’m neither superhuman nor totally dumb).
I was on assignment yesterday so I can’t share pictures. I will; some of them are pretty good, I don’t always feel that way after a job. I’m generally able to wrap my hands around making capable pictures. Pretty good—it’s a higher bar. The pictures here are not stunning photographs, very much news images, and not exceeding their being photos that mostly just communicate information. Eddie Adams said something once about making pictures that were “just news” and then, occasionally making photographs that were much more, coming closer, maybe, to art. Those are auspicious pictures when they occur.
Though this is not yesterday on Maui, the event depicted here at Sand Island on April 15th last year, it was important enough to bring out our governor, Josh Green. And Nainoa Thompson, of course, was there—as he was on Maui yesterday (as was Green). So take in these few pictures of the Hōkūleʻa prior to its departure on the voyage Moananuiākea, an instrument-free circumnavigation of the Paacific, in the Polynesian way, to instill the navigator spirit in those the vessel and crew encounter. The Polynesian Voyaging Society believes this spirit critical to steering our way through the climate crisis, and they are not wrong. Read more here. All of the voyaging vessels of the individual islands of Hawai‘i were present yesterday just offshore of the gathering, including the Hōkūleʻa. It was a sight to see.
Once the story I was on assignment for has run there will be pictures of Nainoa Thompson, Sam Ka‘ai, and Hokulani Holt, among many, many others. I hope that I have done them justice. I hope that I have done the gathering on Maui justice. It was a strong statement by the many involved in producing it, and those who participated, for a pono recovery from the fires of last August.
Here’s a few more pictures: (A note about their captions—these are what went up on the news wire which does not accept Hawiian diacritical marks, demands names in all caps, and requires a certain writing style.)
A crew member aboard the Hokulea drapes a maile lei across the bow. Maile are an endemic liana valued for their color and scent. Lei made from maile are often reserved for special occasions in Hawaii and convey the wish of protection, love, and blessing given to the recipient of the lei.
NAINOA THOMPSON (right) is president of the Polynesian Voyaging Society and a Pwo (Caroline Island master) navigator. In the early 1970s THOMPSON sought out the guidance of Micronesian master navigator Mau Piailug to learn the traditional methods of navigation lost to the people of Hawaii due to Western colonization. The colonization of Hawai‘i was initiated by New England missionaries and culminated in the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy by American business interests, under threat of arms. THOMPSON is a direct descendent of Kamehameha I, the first ruler of the united Hawaiian Islands and is widely decorated for his expeditions and teaching of seafaring navigation and aloha aina—the Hawaiian tradition of stewardship and love of land and ocean.
Hawaii Governor JOSH GREEN speaks with crew members TAVA TAUPU and REX LOKENI. TAVA TAUPU first sailed on the Hokulea on the canoe’s 1980 voyage to Tahiti. This milestone contributed to the end of anthropologists’ long-held belief that Polynesia was settled by unfortunate sailors blown off course and ushered in the understanding of the magnitude of purposeful discovery and settlement of Polynesian islands by Polynesians, one of the earth’s great seafaring peoples. GREEN has predicated his first gubernatorial term on fighting global warming and he is in conversation aboard a powerful local symbol of self-sufficiency and cultural pride. Behind him is the tank farm of Hawaii Fueling Facilities (HFFC) which supplies the aviation fuel to airlines at Inouye International Airport. The HFFC settled last year with the EPA for a 2015 spill that lost 42,000 gallons of jet fuel, only about 1,900 of which were recovered. Inouye International is the second largest carbon source in the state and represents a major hurdle to GREEN’s goal of the decarbonization of Hawaii.