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Overheard at National Geographic

She Sails the Seas Without Maps or Compasses

Overheard at National Geographic

National Geographic

Science, Society & Culture

4.510.1K Ratings

🗓️ 9 May 2023

⏱️ 37 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

For nearly 50 years, a group of Hawaiians have been sailing on traditional voyaging canoes using the methods that early Polynesian explorers relied on to navigate the Pacific Ocean—without maps and modern instruments, and relying on the stars, ocean waves, birds, and other natural elements to guide them. We meet National Geographic Explorer Lehua Kamalu, the first woman to captain a long-distance voyage on Hōkūleʻa, the first Polynesian canoe built in modern times. She describes what it’s like to navigate in incredibly rough waters, what it means to keep Polynesian navigation alive in the 21st century, and about her next big adventure: a four-year circumnavigation of the Pacific Ocean. For more information on this episode, visit natgeo.com/overheard. Want more? Learn about the Polynesian Voyaging Society and their upcoming voyage, Moananuiākea, a 47-month circumnavigation of the Pacific. Read about Hōkūleʻa’s 2022 journey to Tahiti, which involved traveling 3,000 miles over three weeks. Also explore: A small number of people speak ‘ōlelo, Hawaii’s native language, which teetered on extinction during the mid-20th century. Learn about how some young Hawaiians are using TikTok and Instagram to make the language more accessible. Hear Nat Geo Explorer Keolu Fox on a previous Overheard episode share how he’s working with Polynesian and Indigenous communities to study how their genomes have been shaped by history and colonialism, and how that data can help them reclaim land and improve health outcomes for their communities. Visit National Geographic for more stories throughout Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

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0:07.0

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0:15.0

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0:21.0

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0:25.0

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0:42.0

I like to think of the voyaging canoes as taking us back in time on the ocean.

0:47.0

The Huwakamalo is a navigator with the Polynesian Voyaging Society.

0:52.0

I'll often ask my crew, like, what do you think it would have been like to show up in Hawaii as the very first navigator, the first canoe,

0:59.0

and imagine sort of the stunning nature that we would have seen.

1:04.0

Because of course, Hawaii has changed since we've found it and since we've been here.

1:09.0

But yes, I think we think of the early navigators more often than people probably realize.

1:14.0

The Huwakamalo navigators don't use maps or modern instruments to navigate across the ocean.

1:20.0

They use the stars, ocean waves, and other natural signs to guide them.

1:24.0

A method that Pacific Voyagers have used for thousands of years known as Wayfinding.

1:29.0

I'd say broadly Wayfinding, for us, really is that idea that with the naked eye, with all of your senses, with your complete abilities,

1:41.0

to immerse yourself into the signs of the natural world that are around you,

1:46.0

leaning on the learnings and the knowledge of our ancestors and all the people who have come before us,

1:52.0

we have so much knowledge and ability to use that information to find our way on canoes.

1:59.0

And as we travel across the ocean, where there are no street signs.

2:04.0

The Huwakamalo navigates aboard a Polynesian voyaging canoe called Hokalea.

2:08.0

Hokalea translates to the star of Gladness.

2:11.0

And it's a large double-hauled canoe, 62 feet long with triangular crab cloth sails.

...

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