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The ancient Polynesians, who did not use a writing system, have passed down their discovery sagas in oral traditions and genealogies that tell of daring voyages across the vast reaches of deep ocean to all the known major islands of the Polynesian Triangle and beyond.
For centuries these adventurous people sailed to the far reaches of the roughly-shaped Polynesian Triangle, which covers approximately 16 million square miles (more than 41 million km2), discovering and populating Hawaii at the northern apex, New Zealand or Aotearoa in the southwest, tiny Rapa Nui (Easter Island) in the distant southeast, as well as all of the habitable islands in between. But as the widespread islands were inhabited, the voyaging traditions gradually faded in many island groups.
Early European explorers sketched the traditional Polynesian vessels and were amazed by their capabilities. Some were double-hulled, where one hull is smaller than the other or acting as an outrigger, such as the camakau in the Polynesian Cultural Center's Fijian Village — which also ingenuously can sail with either end as the bow, while others were twin-hulled.
Some were said to be approximately 200 feet long (61m) and could carry over 100 people. Fish were plentiful for provisions, but the people also devised ingenuous methods of preserving and wrapping other foods for the long voyages. Lacking metal tools but rich in endemic hardwoods, it might have taken ancient carvers years to create such vessels. Sails were usually made from plaited lauhala leaves, except in New Zealand where pandanus didn't grow and local flax was substituted. Ropes were usually braided from ‘aha — coconut sennit or husk fibers. Unique and lavish ceremonies developed for the start, completion, launching and arrival of such canoes.
The advent of European technology starting in the late 16th century essentially killed the era of Polynesian voyaging. The few remaining large wooden voyaging canoes soon disappeared, as did the knowledge of traditional wayfinding among the Polynesians.
Fast-forward to 1973 when the Polynesian Voyaging Society formed to create the first modern sailing canoe, Hokulea (more correctly written Höküle'a in Hawaiian spelling), as part of Hawaii's participation in the 1976 U.S. Bicentennial Celebration, among other reasons. They used modern materials to create a traditional Hawaiian twin-hulled twin-masted sailing canoe.
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The PVS people had to reach out to Pius "Mau" Piailug, a traditional navigator on the Micronesian island of Satawal, who agreed to train the Hawaiians in the ancient art . . . and eventually helped the Hokulea make its amazing maiden voyage from Hawaii to Tahiti and back using traditional wayfinding.
The Hokulea has since made many deep-ocean voyages and inspired the creation of other similar canoes in Hawaii and across Polynesia, including the Makali'i, which is home-ported at Kawaihae on the Island of Hawaii. Makali'i captains and its supporting organization, Na Kalai Wa'a Moku o Hawai'i, have played a significant role in training the crew and captains of BYU-Hawaii's sailing canoe from its very beginning.
