In 1976, Hokulea’s voyage from Hawaii to Tahiti was completed successfully with the help of Micronesian navigator Mau Piailug. A young member of the crew, Nainoa Thompson, was inspired to study non-instrument navigation and attempt to guide Hokulea back to Tahiti in the 1980s. It was Herb Kane, one of the founders of the PVS who also inspired Nainoa to become a traditional navigator. Currently, Nainoa is the president of the PVS.
Nainoa is the founder of modern, yet tradition-based, Pacific navigation, which combines traditional knowledge with astronomy, mathematics, and celestial mechanics.
After his return, in 1977 Nainoa met astronomer Will Kyselka, author of “North Star and Southern Cross”, lecturer at the Bishop Museum’s Planetarium and started training under the planetarium.
He created his own star compass from Mau Piailug’s version, in which he split the horizon into 32 equal houses.
Nainoa divided the compass into 32 equal points, which he calls houses, similar to the modern mariner’s modern compass. Each house has 11.5 degrees. Nainoa also perfected the concept of meridian pairs of stars.
Nainoa’s system of navigation combines Mau’s training in traditional wayfinding with western concepts of math and latitude and longitude, and discoveries made in the planetarium. While both Carolinian star compass and Polynesian use of horizon stars for course setting and steering are well documented, Nainoa’s observations and work provided an accelerated path to understanding how the ancient Polynesians might have found their way across the ocean.
New Zealanders Jack Thatcher, Hekenukumai Puhipi Busby, Hoturoa Barcklay-Kerr and others were students of both Mau Piailug and Nainoa Thompson. They have created their own interpretations of the Polynesian Star compass based on the teachings of Nainoa Thompson and Mau Piailug and teach traditional Pacific navigation in New Zealand since early 2000’s.
