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2012: Events and News
2011: Events and News
Kau Wela (Dry Season) 2011
Hoʻoilo (Wet Season) 2011
2010: Events and News
December 2009: Training Sail to Palmyra
December 2008: Plan for a Training Sail to Palmyra and Christmas Island
January 2008: Ku Holo Mau (Voyage to Satawal) and Ku Holo Komohana (Voyage to Japan)
September 2006: Hokualaka‘i Launching; 2006 Malama Wa‘a (Caring for the Canoe)
August 2006: Kapu Na Keiki: Youth Training Program
December 2004: Navigating Change: NWHI Voyage Completed
Winter 2003: Northewestern Hawaiian Islands Voyage Postponed; Sail to Nihoa
Summer 2003: Marine Education Training Center; 2003 Statewide Sail
Spring 2002: Plans for Northewestern Hawaiian Islands Voyage
Summer 2001: Ocean Learning Academy
Spring 2001: 2001 Statewide Sail
Ho‘oilo (Rainy Season) 1999: Closing the Triangle: the Quest for Rapanui; Malama Hawai‘i Initiative
Kau (Dry Season) 1998: Restoring Hokule‘a; Center for Marine Sciences
Kau (Dry Season) 1997: Aloha, Wrighto; Project Ho‘olokahi
Ho‘oilo (Rainy Season) 1996-1997: Malama Hawai‘i: 1996-97 Statewide Sail
Ho‘oilo (Rainy Season) 1995-1996: Exploration Learning Center Launched
Kau (Dry Season) 1995: A Safe Successful 1995 Voyage; Northwest and West Coast Tours
Makali‘i (November-December) 1994: North to Hawai‘i, the Marquesas Connection, by Ben Finney
Hilinama (August-September) 1994: Hawai‘iloa Sea Trials, after Modification
Ka‘aona (May–June) 1994: Training and Education Sails; 1992 Voyage: 4. The Voyage Home
Nana (February–March) 1994: 1992 Voyage: 3. Sailing in the Cook Islands
Makali‘i (November-December) 1993: First Sea Trials for Hawai‘iloa Completed; Modifications Begin; 1992 Voyage: 2. Sailing in Tahiti
Fall 1993: Blessing and Launching Hawai‘iloa; 1992 Voyage: 1. Hawai‘i to Tahiti
March 1992: Building Hawai‘iloa
December 1990: Native Hawaiian Culture and Arts Program; search for logs to build Hawai‘iloa
March-April 1984: Announcing the 1985-1987 Voyage of Rediscovery
August 1975: A Voyage into Hawai‘i’s Past (1976 Voyage to Tahiti), by Ben Finney
1974: Plans for Launching of Hokule‘a on March 8, 1975
September 1974: Announcement of 3 day Polynesian Sailing Workshop at Kualoa Park
April 1974: Wa‘a Kaulua...Double Canoe, by Herb Kane. (Training on Nalehia, a 40 ft. double-hulled sailing canoe built by Ben and Ruth Finney in 1966; plans to build Hokule‘a.)

2012 Updates


February 21: Mālama Hōkūle‘a Update

The frontpieces are painted; the new Hōkūle’a moves toward the completion of her renovations this spring:

A new, two-feet wider deck between the two hulls, lashed down to the ‘iako, or crossbeams joining the hulls:

Looking forward, down the starboard hull:


February 8: Online Voyaging Society Archive Launched

PVS, in partnership with Honolulu Community College, the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo, and Ulukau, the Hawaiian Digital Library, announced the opening of its online archive: hookele.org.

The purpose of the archive is to make materials about the Polynesian Voyaging Society accessible to scholars, teachers, and student while also reaching the wider Hawaiian community and the general public.

The searchable materials are organized by subjects, years, people, voyages, and titles. Click here for a UH News Report on the archive: “Polynesian voyaging online archive unveiled.”


February 7: Mālama Wa‘a Update

Both forward manu (end pieces curving upward) attached to the hulls:

Sanding the hulls, by machine and hand:

Decking postitioned to be lashed down:

Posts positioned for railing and lashing:

Mālama Wa‘a Update: January 12

In the New Year, the work toward Hōkūle‘a’s rebirth continues, in preparation for the Worldwide Voyage ...

The front manu (the end piece curving upward) atop the starboard hull:

A new steering sweep positioned at the back of the port hull:

Volunteers lashing down a ‘iako (crossbeam) at the bow of the port hull, under the guidance of Mark Kimura (bottom left), of Honolulu Community College’s Marine Education and Training Center:

The crew, lashing down a ‘iako (crossbeam) at the aft of the starboard hull:

The art of lashing: intricate line work tying together the parts of the canoe: