Modern Polynesia Navigation
Navigation Methods in the 20th Century
The traditional navigation methods across Micronesia and Polynesia were in full use at the beginning of the 20th Century with occasional aids of magnetic compass Western technology. Voyages were regularly made between islands within all of the groups:Marianas, Carolines, Marshalls, Keribati, Banaba (part of Keribati), Tuvalu, Rotuma-Ellice (a Fiji Dependency), Tonga, Santa Cruz, Tikopia (part of the Solomons north of Vanuatu), Vanuatu, Ninigo (North Western Bismarck Archipelago), Pukapuka (Cook Is), Niue (West of Cook Is), Cook Is, Manahiki-Rakahanga (Cook Is), Tubuai (part of the Austral Is), Rapa (part of the Austral Is), Tahiti-Tuamotu, Marquesas, Mangareva, Hawaii.
Canoe types
The canoes were a mixture of designs that evolved over time. The Micronesian canoes generally were single hull with a lateen sail and sailed upwind by Shunting, moving the mast and sail to the opposite end of the boat and keeping the outrigger on the windward side. The Polynesian canoes were double hull or single with outrigger and a sprit sail and sailed up wind by tacking.
A Carolines Outrigger Canoe Tacking
Version (from asiapacific.anu.edu.au)
Hawaiin Double hull Canoe (a DopePicz
photo)
Navigators
Each of the island groups had special
navigators and some had official schools of navigation. In the Carolines there
were two on Pulawat Island. alone. The last schools in the Carolines were Weriyeng
on Pulap and Fanur on Puluwat. The sphere of navigation competence across the
eastern boundaries of Micronesia was slightly greater for the Weiyeng School which
extended to the middle of the Marshalls and the Faur school extended to the
Enewetuk Atoll in the Western Marshalls. In the 1960’s most of the island
groups had navigators and have slowly disappeared. Recent master navigators were
Mau Piailug and Hipour of the Carolines and Tevake of Polynesia. Mau Piailug is one of the
most famous navigators through his involvement in the resurgence of Polynesian
navigation starting in Hawaii.
The Polynesian Voyaging Socierty was
founded in 1973 by Ben Finney, Herb Kane and Chales Holmes. They built a
double-hulled voyaging canoe the Hōkūle‘a
and with Mau Piailug successfully completed a voyage to Tahiti and back to
Hawaii. Mau Piailug trained Nainoa Thompson and who subsequently led others in
voyages around the full extent of the Pacific that had been colonised by their
Austronesian ancestors.
Hector Busby a Māori navigator and waka builder, is a leading
figure in the revival of traditional Polynesian
navigation in New Zealand and ocean voyaging using wayfinding techniques.
He built 26 traditional waka, including the double-hulled
Te Aurere
which has sailed over 30,000 nautical miles in the Pacific including Hawaii, Cook Islands, French Polynesia, New Caledonia and Norfolk Island. In December
2012, Te Aurere and Ngahiraka Mai Tawhiti (another waka built by
Busby) reached Rapa Nui
after a 5000-nautical-mile, four-month voyage from New Zealand. The two waka
then made the return journey to New Zealand, landing at Aurere Beach in Doubtless Bay in May 2013.
Te Aurere built by Hector Busby and team.
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