Nainoa Thompson
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Charles Nainoa Thompson is a Native Hawaiian navigator and the executive director of the Polynesian Voyaging Society. He is best known as the first Hawaiian to practice the ancient Polynesian art of navigation since the 14th century, having navigated two double-hulled canoes (the Hokuleʻa and the Hawaiʻiloa) from Hawaiʻi to other island nations in Polynesia without the aid of instruments.
Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, Thompson graduated from Punahou School in 1972 and earned a BA in Ocean Science in 1986 from the University of Hawai`i. [1] Thompson was trained by master navigator Mau Piailug from the island of Satawal and assisted him on the first voyage of the Hokuleʻa in 1976. His first solo voyage was from Hawaiʻi to Tahiti in 1980. Since then, Thompson has been the lead navigator on the subsequent voyages of Hokuleʻa, including the Voyage of Discovery from 1985 to 1987. On March 18, 2007, Thompson and four other native Hawaiian navigators were inducted into Pwo as master navigators. The ceremony was conducted by Piailug on Satawal.
Thompson is also a member of the Board of Trustees for Kamehameha Schools (a post that his father Myron "Pinky" Thompson also held), and a member of the Board of Regents for the University of Hawaiʻi.
He is married to KHON2 anchor Kathy Muneno.
