Hokulea

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Hōkūleʻa is a performance-accurate full-scale replica of a wooden sailing vessel (Polynesian voyaging canoe) used in ancient Hawaiʻi. Its name means "star of gladness" in Hawaiian, and the name refers to the star Arcturus, a guiding zenith star for Hawaiian navigators, which falls directly overhead at Hawaiʻi's latitude.

It was built in 1975 by the Polynesian Voyaging Society, and is best known for its 1976 voyage from Hawaiʻi to Tahiti, performed without modern navigational instruments. Since then Hōkūleʻa has completed seven voyages to various destinations in Polynesia and the United States, all using ancient wayfinding techniques of celestial navigation.

On January 19, 2007, Hokule'a left Hawaii with the voyaging canoe Alingano Maisu on a voyage to Micronesia and Japan. The voyage is expected to take five months. When it is not on a voyage, Hōkūleʻa is moored at the Hawaiʻi Maritime Center in Honolulu Harbor.

[edit] List of voyages

1976: Hōkūleʻa, led by Satawalese navigator Mau Piailug, traveled from Hawaiʻi to Tahiti and back.
1978: A second attempted voyage to Tahiti was aborted when the canoe swamped south of the island of Molokaʻi. Eddie Aikau is lost at sea on this voyage.
1980: Native Hawaiian Navigator Nainoa Thompson recreated the 1976 voyage, becoming the first Native Hawaiian in modern times to guide a canoe without instruments.
1985: Known as the Voyage of Rediscovery, Hōkūleʻa traveled a total distance of 16,000 miles to various destinations in Polynesia.
1992: Hōkūleʻa sailed to Rarotonga and back via Tahiti. The voyage included an educational component where Hawaii students could track the progress of the canoe through daily radio reports.
1995 spring: Hōkūleʻa, along with sister ships Hawaiʻiloa and Makaliʻi, sailed from Hawaiʻi to the Marquesas Islands and back via Tahiti.
1995 summer: Hōkūleʻa and Hawaiʻiloa sailed the West Coast of the United States from Seattle to San Diego.
1999: Hōkūleʻa sailed from Hawaiʻi to Rapa Nui and back.
2004: Hōkūleʻa's most recent voyage took place in June 2004, when navigator Thompson led a training voyage through the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.

2007 (current): Accompanied by the canoe Alingano Maisu, Hokule'a is currently sailing from Hawaii to the Federated States of Micronesia. While on the island of Satawal, the home island of Mau Piailug, the crew of the Hokule'a is expected to present the Alingano Maisu to Piailug as a gift. From there, the Hokule'a will sail to Japan.