Closing the Triangle: A Quest for Rapa Nui
Polynesian Voyaging Society
Voyage to the Marquesas / June 15-July 14, 1999
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 keel-less canoe was able to make up this easting because of the sailing skill of the navigators and crew, a lighter canoe (4000 pounds have been removed during drydock), and new sails, which allow Hokule'a to point higher into the wind (6 to 11 degrees higher) than it did with the old rig. Navigator Bruce Blankenfeld, assisted by Pi'ikea Miller, was able to hold better than their course line (the desired course) through all three segments of their voyage: Manu Malanai (SE) in the ENE trade winds (21degrees N to 9 degrees N), Nalani Malanai (SE by S) through the doldrums (9 degrees N to 3 degrees N), and Na Leo Malanai (SSE) in the easterly SE trade winds (3 degrees N to 9 degrees S). They were confidant they had were on their course line.
On July 5, believing they were NE of the Marquesas, the navigators headed South to try to intersect the Marquesas islands on its long 190-mile wide SE to NW axis. However, they had over-estimated their distance travelled and latitude (by 2-3 degrees) and were actually still 150 miles N of the islands. On July 6, they decided to head West, passing 90 miles north of Eiao (the most northern island in the Maruqesas) on a southwesterly course.
Finding no signs of land to the West by July 8, the navigators ended their search to the South and West 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 a change of pattern in the ESE trade wind swells, which were blocked and disturbed by Eiao and Hatutu about 10 miles WSW of the canoe. They put down their sails in the dark and waited. On morning of July 12, they sighted the edge of Eiao in squally weather.
Navigating this route from Hawai'i to the Marquesas without instruments was another milestone in voyaging. This relatively tight, isolated cluster of high islands (120 miles x 160 miles) is extremely difficult to find from 2000 miles away. There was less margin for error than in previous voyages. The target destination on previous voyages to Tahiti is a 400-mile wide screen of islands from Manihi in the Tuamotu Archipelago, to Maupiti in Tahiti Nui--two to three times wider than the target offered by the Marquesas.
(Hawaiian Standard Time; Time, followed by Degrees and Minutes of Latitude &
Degrees and Minutes of Longitude)
June 14
15:59 - 19 44N 155 03W
June 15
07:00 - 19 44N 155 03W
14:18 - 19 44N 155 03W
15:58 - 19 43N 155 03W
16:33 - 19 46N 155 03W
18:30 - 19 43N 154 56W
June 16
07:00 - 19 12N 154 51W
12:25 - 18 58N 154 49W
June 17
06:20 - 17 59N 152 51W
07:00 - 17 57N 152 49W
18:00 - 17 20N 152 13W
June 18
06:00 - 16 41N 151 43W
07:00 - 16 37N 151 39W
18:00 - 16 04N 150 59W
June 19
06:05 - 15 25N 150 13W
07:00 - 15 23N 150 10W
18:00 - 14 52N 149 36W
June 20
05:29 - 14 18N 148 57W
06:05 - 14 18N 148 57W
07:00 - 14 15N 148 54W
18:00 - 13 39N 148 16W
June 21
06:00 - 13 25N 147 39W
07:00 - 13 20N 147 36W
18:15 - 12 22N 147 00W
June 22
05:25 - 11 53N 146 28W
07:00 - 11 48N 146 23W
18:00 - 11 10N 145 52W
June 23
06:00 - 10 43N 145 12W
07:00 - 10 39N 145 10W
18:00 - 10 04N 144 49W
June 24
05:45 - 9 32N 144 38W
07:00 - 9 29N 144 38W
18:00 - 9 06N 144 36W
June 25
05:25 - 8 24N 144 24W
07:00 - 8 19N 144 24W
17:50 - 7 45N 144 27W
June 26
05:35 - 7 35N 144 05W
07:00 - 7 34N 144 04W
18:05 - 7 27N 143 55W
June 27
05:35 - 7 23N 143 34W
07:00 - 7 18N 143 30W
18:00 - 6 41N 142 55W
June 28
05:30 - 5 54N 142 21W
07:00 - 5 49N 142 19W
18:00 - 5 15N 142 00W
June 29
05:30 - 5 04N 141 57W
07:00 - 5 03N 141 51W
08:30 - 5 01N 141 46W
18:00 - 4 31N 142 05W
June 30
05:40 - 3 55N 142 16W
07:00 - 3 51N 142 16W
15:30 - 3 23N 142 18W
17:35 - 3 14N 142 19W
July 1
05:35 - 2 29N 142 20W
07:00 - 2 23N 142 18W
17:30 - 1 42N 142 06W
July 2
05:30 - 0 42N 141 42W
07:00 - 0 35N 141 38W
17:33 - 0 10S 141 09W
July 3
05:29 - 0 57S 140 39W
07:00 - 1 03S 140 39W
17:23 - 1 46S 140 37W
July 4
05:35 - 2 52S 140 26W
07:00 - 3 07S 140 27W
17:24 - 4 56S 140 32W
July 5
05:35 - 5 20S 140 50W
07:00 - 5 27S 140 55W
17:29 - 6 17S 141 30W
July 6
05:37 - 7 21S 141 58W
07:00 - 7 22S 142 06W
17:28 - 7 26S 143 06W
July 7
05:47 - 8 08S 143 47W
07:00 - 8 12S 143 47W
July 8
05:42 - 9 19S 143 51W
07:00 - 9 14S 143 48W
17:25 - 8 33S 143 24W
July 9
05:46 - 7 54S 142 41W
07:00 - 7 58S 142 41W
17:25 - 8 30S 142 40W
July10
05:45 - 7 37S 142 02W
07:00 - 7 38S 142 00W
17:20 - 7 47S 141 48W
20:10 - 8 09S 141 43W
July 11
05:30 - 8 45S 141 42W
07:00 - 8 42S 141 39W
16:50 - 8 22S 141 18W
20:15 - 8 10S 141 09W
23:00 - 8 02S 141 00W
July 12
04:50 - 7 50S 140 53W
07:00 - 7 52S 140 52W
17:30 - 8 03S 140 47W
July 13
05:30 - 8 17S 140 40W
07:00 - 8 19S 140 39W
18:00 - Taiohae, Nukuhiva, 08 deg. 56' S, 140 deg. 05' W
Navigators' Estimated Position
(At sunrise and sunset; in latitude and miles east or west of the reference course [RC].)
June 14
Sunset: Hilo Harbor, 19 deg. 44' N, 155 deg. 04' W.
June 15
Sunrise: Not Available (NA); Hokule'a was heading SE from Hilo.
Sunset: (NA); Hokule'a was heading SE from Hilo.
June 16
Sunrise: (NA); Hokule'a was heading SE from Hilo.
Sunset: (NA); Hokule'a was heading SE from Hilo.
June 17
Sunrise: 17 deg. 32' N, 12 miles E of the RC
Sunset: (NA); Hokule'a was heading SE from Hilo.
June 18
Sunrise: 15 deg. 46' N, 8 miles E of the RC.
Sunset: (NA); Hokule'a was heading SE from Hilo.
June 19
Sunrise: (NA); Hokule'a was heading SE from Hilo.
Sunset: 13 deg. 21' N, 23 miles E of the RC.
June 20
Sunrise: 12 deg. 20' N, 23 miles E of the RC
Sunset: 11 deg. 46' N, 23 miles E of the RC
June 21
Sunrise: 11 deg. N, 23 miles E of the RC
Sunset: 10 deg. 15' N, 30 miles E of the RC
June 22
Sunrise: 10 deg. N, 31 miles E of the RC (adjusted after good sighting of Hokupa'a)
Sunset:
June 23
Sunrise: 08 deg. 46' N; 41 miles E of the RC
Sunset: 08 deg. 06' N; 41 miles E of the RC
June 24
Sunrise: 07 deg. 31' N; 41 miles E of the RC
Sunset: 07 deg. N; 41 miles E of the RC
June 25
Sunrise: 07 deg. N; 41 miles E of the RC (adjusted after good sighting of Hokupa'a)
Sunset: 06 deg. 20' N; 33 miles E of the RC
June 26
Sunrise: 06 deg. 03' N; 42 miles E of the RC
Sunset: 05 deg. 46' N; 27 miles E of the RC
June 27
Sunrise: 05 deg. 42' N; 32 miles of the RC
Sunset: 04 deg. 52' N; 32 miles E of the RC
June 28
Sunrise: 04 deg. 02' N; 32 miles E of the RC
Sunset: 03 deg. 10' N; 32 miles E of the RC
June 29
Sunrise: 02 deg. 53' N; 33 miles E of the RC
Sunset: 01 deg. 10' N; 6 miles E of the RC
June 30
Sunrise: 00 deg. 54' N; 4 miles E of the RC
Evening: 01 deg. N; on the RC (adjusted after good sighting of Hokupa'a)
July 1
Sunrise: 00 deg. 07' N; on reference course
Sunset: 01 deg. 07' S; 14 miles E of the RC
July 2
Sunrise: 02 deg. 10' S; 41 miles E of the RC
Sunset: 03 deg. 14' S; 52 miles E of the RC
July 3
Sunrise: 04 deg. 04' S; 67 miles E of the RC
Sunset: 04 deg. 58' S; 61 miles E of the RC
July 4
Sunrise: 06 deg. 14' S; 54 miles E of the RC
Sunset: 06 deg. 26' S; 61 miles E of the RC
July 5
Sunrise: 07 deg. 48' S; 40 miles E of the RC; (heading South to look for the Marquesas)
Sunset: 08 deg. 26' S; 3 miles W of the RC
July 6
Sunrise: 09 deg. 20' S; E of the Marquesas? (heading West to look for the Marquesas)
Sunset: 09 deg. 27' S; E of the Marquesas?
July 7
Sunrise: 10 deg. S; 100 miles W of the position at sunset on July 5 (heading NW to look for the Marquesas)
Sunset: 09 deg. S; 113 miles W of the RC
July 8
Sunrise: 09 deg.56' S; 90 miles W of the RC (heading N to look for the Marquesas)
Sunset: 09 deg. 02' S; 55 miles W of the RC.
July 9
Sunrise: 08 deg. 36' S; 7 miles W of the RC (heading South, tacking back to the E to look for the Marquesas)
Sunset: 09 deg. 09' S; 42 miles W of the RC
(heading NE by E, tacking back to the E to look for the Marquesas)
July 10
Sunrise: 08 deg. 24' S; 3 miles E of the RC
(heading NE by E to look for the Marquesas)
Sunset: 08 deg. 25' S; 20 miles E of the RC
(turning S by E to look for the Marquesas)
July 11
Sunrise: 09 deg. 53' S; 25.5 miles E of the RC (heading NE by E to look for the Marquesas)
Sunset: 09 deg. 07' S; 65 miles E of the RC
July 12
Sunrise: Landfall! Sighted Eiao at 08 deg. S, 140 deg. 41' W. The canoe was about 10 miles WNW of the islands.
July 13
Sunrise: 30 miles SW of Nukuhiva; Entered harbor at Taiohae, Nukuhiva in the early evening.