Hokulea

Hokulea
By: Kelly, Nicolette, Justin, and Cole

    We are the Hokulea group. We have been researching five questions, and we have been going on trips to find some answers for our questions. On the two days of the field trips we found some answers to our questions.     The Hokulea is a double-hulled canoe made of ancient design capable of making long voyages.  To see a picture of the Hokulea, please click on the following website:

Picture of Hokulea

    The Hokulea first sailed to Tahiti in 1976. Nainoa Thompson was the captain who sailed it. To see a picture of Nainoa Thompson, please click on the following website:

Picture of Nainoa Thompson

    The Hokulea is made out of fiberglass, but was modeled after ancient koa wood canoes. The koa wood had to be healthy or they would not use it because when it sails out in the ocean, the wood might break.   If it was healthy, the Hokulea would not break out in the ocean.

        The Hokulea navigated during the night by using the stars. They also used the moon.  They used the North star to go north. The Hokulea navigated during the day by using the sun, winds, ocean swells, and bird flight patterns. They used the bird flight patterns because wherever the birds are going might have land. The sun was used for where it would shine there was land. The water swells were usually  used by the waves that go toward land.  The wind and clouds were used for the wind and ocean both go towards land.

    We found our topic in the Kai (ocean). We choose the Kai because the Hokulea sails in the ocean.  We think that the Uka (or mountains) was a big resource for the Hokulea.  Koa trees are found in the Uka.   Without koa wood, people couldn’t build boats, and without the Uka we couldn’t have a place for Koa to grow.  To see a picture of the Kai, please click the following link:

Picture of Kai
 
    Ancient canoes were used for showing the Polynesians how to sail across the Pacific Ocean, and they were also used for finding new land to spread their culture.

Thank You for reading our report...

Posted on May 27, 2008 8:58 AM | Permalink