Navigators
Na Ho`okele

The Next Generation
Conceptual drawing (46K) (D. Kemble for M.S. Allen)
Exhibit (35K) (Sculpture by Jacqueline Lau, photo by Jeffrey Sue)

Can one person really make a difference? In 1976 there were no Hawaiian ho`okele (navigators). In 1995, there are 5 ho`okele and 12 apprentices. Two persons with `ike (knowledge) and another with a quest rekindled Polynesian wayfinding.

In 1976, a young Hawaiian aboard Hokule`a was fascinated by the parade of stars across the night sky. Nainoa Thompson returned home to study traditional navigation with one of the Pacific's last master ho`okele, Mau Piailug of Micronesia.

Nainoa also spent countless hours with his second teacher, Will Kyselka, manipulating the "skies" of the Bishop Museum planetarium. Nainoa took their teachings and blended them with personal observations to create a navigational system that may not be traditional, but is Hawaiian.

Nainoa now passes this knowledge to those who will navigate Hawai`iloa in 1995. The sharing goes beyond Hawai‘i too, with Nainoa training other Pacific Islanders.

I ka nana no a `ike.
By observing, one learns.
(`Olelo No`eau #1186; Pukui 1983)
Making Ready
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Revised on August 29, 1996 by mcb