Around-the-world canoe trip will no longer include Europe
COURTESY ‘OIWI TV / POLYNESIAN VOYAGING SOCIETY
A rainbow provided a nice background for dinner service aboard the Hokule‘a in a photo posted Monday at hokulea.com. The voyaging canoe, which is making its way through the Caribbean to Florida, will not tour European ports as previously planned, according to officials with the Polynesian Voyaging Society.
The Hokule‘a will not visit Europe later this year as originally planned as part of the Hawaiian canoe’s around-the-world sail, leaders with the Oahu-based Polynesian Voyaging Society say.
Instead, the 41-year-old traditional Polynesian vessel replica and its crews are considering pushing farther north along the U.S. East Coast to Nova Scotia. Then they would sail into two Great Lakes and eventually back down the East Coast on the Hokule‘a’s Malama Honua (“Care for the Earth”) global voyage.
Voyage organizers weren’t able to do as much advance planning and relationship-building in Europe as they needed to justify the risks of sailing there, according to PVS President and Hokule‘a Captain Nainoa Thompson. The cost and uncertainties of shipping the Hokule‘a back across the ocean about two months later weren’t justified either, he said during an interview Wednesday in Honolulu.
The vessel is now in the Caribbean Sea and is due in Cuba today or Friday.
The sail plan’s limited time frame would not have allowed the canoe to stay there as long as they would have liked, Thompson added.
“I really didn’t believe we were prepared to go to Europe. It’s a big puka. We’re going to miss an extraordinary part of the world,” he said. “Not everybody liked it, but it’s a judgment call. Foundational is safety.”
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“The problem was lack of connection and lack of time,” he said. “We just all weren’t able to set that groundwork.”
The Hokule‘a had been slated to sail for Europe in July after making its way up the U.S. Eastern Seaboard. PVS’ plan was to then ship the canoe back to the East Coast in time for dry-dock repairs, which are still scheduled there this fall. Voyage organizers aim to have the Hokule‘a arrive at the Panama Canal by January 2017 to re-enter the Pacific Ocean.
The international voyage launched in May 2014 and is expected to take more than three years to complete.
“Three and a half years is a long time, but essentially we’re going too fast,” Thompson said. “I wish we could spend more time in places … to deepen the experiences. It’s hard to deepen relationships when the sail plan’s so tight.”
Voyage organizers considered adding about a year to the voyage in order to have “mission impact” in Europe but ultimately decided against the move, Thompson said.
PVS leaders say the North America route that they’re considering to replace Europe should give them more time to reach out to local communities.
It would bring the Hokule‘a to Maine, around Nova Scotia, down the Saint Lawrence Seaway — passing though Montreal — and into Lake Ontario and Lake Erie. The canoe would then head back to the Atlantic via the Erie Canal system, which includes a series of lochs that Thompson described as “brilliant engineering” and another way to encourage Hawaii students to consider careers in science.
The canal connects Lake Erie with the Hudson River.
The cold waters at those northern latitudes, even in the summer months, would require canoe crews to be especially careful not to fall overboard, he said. Thompson added that he liked the route because there “aren’t a lot of big cities” and the Canadian region offers a chance to “celebrate nature.”
“Right now there’s nothing in the research that says we can’t do it, so far. So we’re looking for a reason why we can’t,” he said.
Through the voyage’s first two years, the long-term climate patterns that its organizers used to plan the sail have in many cases proved unreliable, Thompson said. “A lot of places around the earth, the weather is unprecedented. That becomes a concern” — and it leads to more conservative sailing decisions, he said.
He further expressed hope that the next generation of long-distance canoe voyagers might eventually sail to Europe.
“The good news is, maybe it’s the next voyage,” Thompson said. “So when we find peace in the Middle East, they can go right up the Red Sea.”
10 responses to “Around-the-world canoe trip will no longer include Europe”
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Canada is investing more with status quo players than the french, english, italians or germans. egyptians? saudis? if only we could figure out a way for prince thompson to plan the voyage of the new hawaiian government.
Going too Fast – Sailing Plan Too Tight – Not enough time to set ground work – Climate Patterns Unreliable – Cost $$$$$$$$
– Well, our ancestors and kupuna did not go to that part of the world and there is always lots to do here at home be it Native Hawaiian struggle or celebration.
“Well, our ancestors and kupuna did not go to that part of the world”
Really? Hawaiians have traveled to Europe. Kamehameha II, his wife Kamāmalu, High Chief Boki, his wife High Chiefess Liliha along with a delegation would visit London in 1824. Later King Kalākaua would travel around the world and visit European countries. He sat in private audience with Queen Victoria. Queen Kapiʻolani and Princess Liliʻuokalani would lead a royal suite to England as invited guests to attend Queen Victoria’s Jubilee at Westminster Abby 1887.
Perhaps your ancestors or kupuna did not travel to that part of world – However, Hawaiians have traveled from the Islands to Europe – beginning almost 200 yrs. ago.
Happy Saint Patrick ’s Day! 🙂
Not.via canoe
Clearly PVS didn’t have this figured out long before, as they had most people believe. I personally have my reservations about the whole concept of what this voyage was intended to accomplish. First, the choice of sailing up through the Great Lakes region of the continental US and Canada, this begs the question…why? To bypass the entire European leg of the “World Tour” seems an utter failure of planning and underscores the questionable leadership at PVS and their direction. Second, Thompson makes several references about “shipping” the canoe back…what? Poor choice of words. Did the world voyage include placing the canoe onboard a cargo sh[p to bring it back to the US east coast. The article in the SA leaves the impression this was the plan. If it was, what were leaders at PVS thinking?? Obviously, PVS now understands the expense and logistics of this undertaking and it was probably well outside their budget and organization to manage. Third, and most important (at least in my mind), PVS’s decision to not present the Polynesian Voyaging Canoe in real life to European Academics and historians to actually look at and stand onboard and to speak directly to the canoe’s crew…what a huge loss of an opportunity to strengthen the historical FACTS about Pacific migration. Still today, in Europe, there are many who cling to the belief that the Pacific Islands were populated by the people of South America in balsa rafts that ‘drifted’ across the ocean. They do NOT believe that Pacific islanders had the ability to sail with purpose across the ocean. Having the Hokulea there in Europe may have done more to further this reality than anything else. It would have done much, I believe, to dismiss the “Kon Tiki” hypothesis of drifting migration as opposed to long distance voyaging and navigation in the Pacific. No Europe leg in Malama Honua Voyage is a big, huge loss for PVS and Polynesian Voyaging education. Sad. Big mistake guys.
Good luck to Hokulea and her crew out there so far from home. Just enjoy the journey and make it back safely.
Christobal Columbus did NOT call Matson to have his ships shipped to the New World.
“Sailors” that are NOT even WILLING to sail are always, always, “left at the dock”.
A “voyaging society” that is unwilling to do a voyage? The ancients built high-performance vessels that have demonstrated high performance. The ancient voyagers were “high performance” to compliment their remarkable vessels. Hokule’a has nevah, ever, operated as the ancients intended. Shame! I warned Dr. Emory in 1975 the BS would happen. Over and over again. Thanx “No-no”.
Illegal Immigration changed things…boat too small for the anticipated invasion?
Agreed. Send the revisionist buggers back to Tahiti!
To Star-Advertiser staff: the Erie canal has “locks” (devices for raising and lowering ships in the canal), not “lochs” (narrow lakes found in Scotland).