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.


GPS fixes of the Escort Boat

(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.