Wednesday, July 14, 1999 (8:30 a.m.)

Hokule'a Departed Hilo June 15, 1999, p.m.

Entered Taiohae, Nukuhiva, July 13, 1999, p.m.

Hokule'a was at Sea: 28 days

Miles from Hilo (Straight Line): 1900; Miles Along Reference Course Lines: 2140; Miles Actually Sailed: 2700.

The first greeting from the Marquesas were from porpoises at the bows of both the escort boat and canoe, and by fishermen from Nukuhiva who gave the canoe and the escort boat one ahi each.

What the Voyage to the Marquesas Achieved:

For the first time, Hokule'a sailed from Hawai'i to the Marquesas, considered a difficult sail even in a deep-keeled monohull, because the Marquesas lie 900 miles upwind of Hawai'i. The canoe was able to make up this easting because of the sailing skill of the navigators and crew, the lighter canoe (4000 pounds have been removed), and new sails, which allows Hokule'a to point higher into the wind (6 to 11 degrees higher) than with the old rig. Navigator Bruce Blankenfeld, assisted by Pi'ikea Miller, was able to hold the course line (the desired course) through the three segments of their voyage: Manu Malanai (SE) in the ENE trade winds (21 N to 9 N), Nalani Malanai (SE by S) through the doldrums (9 N to 3 N), and Na Leo Malanai (SSE) in the easterly SE trade winds (3 N to 9S) .

On July 5, the navigators took a southwesterly course to try to intersect the Marquesas islands on its long 190-mile wide SE to NW axis (8 S to 10.5 S). However, they had been over-estimating their distance travelled and latitude (by 2-3 degrees), and were actually still north of the islands. On July 6, they sailed 90 miles WNW of Eiao on their southwesterly course, away from the Marquesas.

Finding no signs of land by July 8, the navigators ended their search to the west and south and guessed that they must have gone past the islands earlier. They headed back to the east, directly into the ESE tradewinds. They zigzagged east between 7.5 and 9 degrees S in a search strategy to find the Marquesas. At 2 a.m. on July 11, they felt the islands in the change of pattern in the trade wind swells, which were blocked and disturbed by Eiao and Hatutu about 10 miles WSW of the canoe. On morning of July 12 they sighted land in the squally weather--the edge of Eiao.

Navigating this route without instruments was another milestone in voyaging. This relatively tight, isolated cluster of high islands (120 x 160 miles) is difficult to find from 2000 miles away. The target for Hokule'a on previous voyages to Tahiti--a 400-mile wide screen, from Manihi in the Tuamotu Archipelago, to Maupiti in Tahiti Nui--is 2-3 x wider than the Marquesas.

The skills, strategies, and equipment that the navigators and crew tested on this first leg will be needed on the next two voyages, when Hokule'a will have even smaller targets than the Marquesas. On the second leg from the Marquesas to Mangareva, the navigators (Chad Baybayan, with Moana Doi and Catherine Fuller) will aim for a group of three islands (Oeno, Pitcairn, and Henderson) that is smaller, lower, fewer in nubmer, with wider gaps between them than the Marquesas group. The navigators will again have to sail close to the wind; they plan to tack north to gain enough easting to avoid the dangerous reefs and atolls of the eastern Tuamotus before heading south to find the three islands and Mangareva.

The third leg of this voyage will take the canoe from Mangareva in search of Rapa Nui, one of the most isolated islands on the planet, and directly upwind of the departure point of Mangareva. Under typical wind conditions, the navigators--a team of Hawai'i's best incluidng Nainoa Thompson , Bruce Blankenfeld, and Chad Baybaybn--cannot sail a straight course to the islands; instead they will tack against easterly winds and play wind shifts. Toward the end of their voyage, they will employ the same zigzagging search strategy that navigators Blankenfeld and Miller employed to find the Marquesas.