In preparation for its six-year Moananuiakea Voyage to circumnavigate the Pacific, launching in May, the Polynesian Voyaging Society has begun the process of training its next generation of navigators and sailors.

The organization’s recent training sail to Papahanau­mokuakea immersed five young navigators in noninstrument navigation and the cultural and ecological significance of the remote region they visited, while fostering mutual trust and respect for fellow crew members.

The eight-day Papahanaumokuakea sail, which departed from the Marine Education Training Center at Sand Island in mid-June, comprised five open-ocean legs. The voyage, themed “Navigating the Kupuna Islands,” tasked the young sailors — Nalamaku Ah Sing, Jonah Apo, Kai Hoshijo, Lucy Lee and Dillyn Lietzke — with navigating the voyaging canoes Hokulea and Hikianalia to Nihoa, Mokumanamana and Lalo (French Frigate Shoals), located in the cluster of low-lying islands and atolls to the northwest of the main Hawaiian islands.

It was Lietzke’s maiden voyage, resulting in mixed feelings of excitement and nervousness.

“I was already kind of nervous about adjusting to life on the waa (voyaging canoe) because that would be something new for me, and then I found out we were going to be navigating for a portion of it and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh,’” she said. “I just had to get in the right head space and just remember the training.”

The novice wayfarers trained together for over a year before embarking on the voyage, assisting with dry docks and studying navigation calculations, water safety and more. According to PVS President Nainoa Thompson, navigating to Nihoa from Niihau is comparable to finding an island half the size of Diamond Head in the open ocean.

While developing navigational skills was one of the main goals of the Papahanaumokuakea sail, another was strengthening the bond between the navigators.

“We really rely on each other, and I think that’s why we were so accurate. It’s not necessarily because we studied super hard,” Hoshijo said. “I think the Nihoa run was really a testament to how well we work together and how much we truly love each other as friends, and how that can be carried into the future.”

According to Apo, some of the navigators have known each other for years before they began training.

“I think the way we treated each other (and) the way we worked together really helped a lot in us being able to be successful,” Apo said. “I think one of the main reasons we found (Nihoa) so spot-on was just because of how well we really came together and really focused and put all our energies in the same direction.”

For Lee, getting to work with the four other trainees and become a part of the next generation of PVS navigators is “indescribably awesome.”

“I’m just so inspired in knowing that we’re starting together and that we’re all going to grow in so many different directions, but the one thing that’s going to unite us is going to be learning the skill of navigation and being bonded and connected by the waa and the ocean,” Lee said.

While in Lalo, through a partnership between PVS and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the navigators and crew participated in the first underwater survey of the area since Hurricane Walaka hit in 2018, observing the beginnings of the natural regeneration of the coral reef following widespread destruction.

“Seeing how alive all the ecosystems there were underwater, and just all the marine life and the birds, and just seeing a place that’s so pristine and untouched by humans was a really cool experience that you can’t get many places,” Lietzke said. “I think it really hit home for me and made me realize just how big of an impact we actually have on our environment here.”

In addition to exploring the environmental significance of Papahanaumoku­akea, the voyage highlighted the cultural prominence of the area.

“I think it was a really huge thing to be able to go on Hokule‘a and with Hikianalia and bridge that connection between science and cultural practices in a space that’s so sacred,” Lietzke said. “Going there, I definitely took my kupuna with me and always kept in mind those who came before me.”

While the Papahanaumokuakea voyage was intended primarily to train the young navigators for PVS’s Moananuiakea Voyage, which will call on countries and archipelagos in Asia, North and South America and the Pacific, the trainees are looking ahead to further oceangoing adventures and eventually passing their knowledge on to generations to come.

“I think when you learn this type of knowledge of navigation, you have a responsibility to continue to pass it on,” Apo said. “I think it’s really important to make sure that in each generation that comes up, there’s a group of Hawaiians that are learning navigation and keeping the art alive.”