The Alaka'ina Foundation Contibutes to Polynesian Voyaging Society.

Polynesian Voyaging Society March 2025

The Alaka'ina Foundation is pleased to announce that it was a major contributor to the 50th Anniversary of the Polynesian Voyaging Society (PVS). 

PVS is a non-profit research and educational corporation based in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi. PVS was established to research and perpetuate traditional Polynesian voyaging methods. Using replicas of traditional double-hulled canoes, PVS undertakes voyages throughout the world navigating without modern instruments.

On March 8, 1975, Hōkūle‘a, a performance-accurate deep sea voyaging canoe built in the tradition of ancient Hawaiian wa‘a kaulua (double-hulled voyaging canoe), was launched from the sacred shores of Hakipu‘u-Kualoa, in Kāne‘ohe Bay on the island of O‘ahu. The canoe was named Hōkūle‘a (“Star of Gladness”), after a zenith star of Hawai‘i also known as Arcturus, that is a red giant star located in the constellation Boötes. It is the brightest star in the northern celestial hemisphere.  

The first voyaging canoe to be built in the Hawaiian Islands in over 600 years left Hawaiʻi on May 1, 1976, for Tahiti to retrace an ancient voyaging route. Micronesian navigator Mau Piailug, using no instruments, successfully navigated the canoe to Tahiti, arriving there on June 3, 1976.

On January 23, 2007, the Hokuleʻa and the Alingano Maisu set sail on a voyage to Micronesia and Japan. In March 2007, the canoes arrived at Piailug's home island of Satawal where five native Hawaiians and sixteen others were inducted into Pwo as master navigators. The event was the first Pwo ceremony on Satawal in 50 years and the Alingano Maisu was presented to Piailug as a gift for his contribution in reviving wayfinding navigation.

The Alingano Maisu, also known as Maisu, is a double-hulled voyaging canoe built in Kawaihae, Hawaii, by members of Na Kalai Waʻa Moku o Hawaiʻi and ʻOhana Wa'a members.

(Inside hull of a Hawaiian sailing canoe)

Since its first cross Pacific voyage in 1976 the Hōkūleʻa and its sister canoes the Makali'i and the Maisu have made numerous cross ocean voyages allowing Native Hawaiian crews and navigators to gain significant knowledge and skills.

The Hōkūleʻa has circumnavigated the Earth in a voyage from 2014 to 2017, covering 47,000 nautical miles with stops at 85 ports in 26 countries including Tahiti, Aotearoa (New Zealand), and Rapa Nui.

On June 18, 2017, the  Hōkūleʻa arrived in Jamestown, Virginia. The arrival ceremony included a cultural welcome by Virginia Indian tribal chiefs from the Pamunkey Indian Tribe, Mattaponi Tribe, and the Nottoway Indian Tribe of Virginia. The crew was greeted by about 300 people from the community and the Native American tribes. The ceremony also included performances by the Native Virginia tribes and a presentation of gifts from the crew to the Virginia hosts.