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Canoe Builders and Voyagers


Source of Traditional Navigational Knowledge

Mau teaching on Satawal

Mau teaching navigation to his nephew on Satawal. From "The Navigators: Pathfinders of the Pacific," posted on YouTube by Documentary Educational Resources.

Mau’s Hawaiian Graduates / Pwo Navigators and Teachers

On March 18, 2007, Mau Piailug inducted five Hawaiians and eleven Micronesians into Pwo, the ninth of fifteen degrees in the Weriyeng School of Navigation of Micronesia. The five Hawaiians were given the honor and responsibility of carrying on Mau's teachings. Pwo, as explained to Nainoa Thompson is light, love, kindness and compassion. If there are conflicts, the navigator must resolve them; if there is sickness, the navigator's responsibility is to heal; if there is damage, the navigator must repair it. His kuleana is to sail and bring back gifts to his home island.

Kalepa, Shorty, Nainoa, ‘Onohi, and Bruce

See Never Lost: Polynesian Navigation (a website by the Exploratorium in San Francisco), for video interviews with Hōkūle‘a crew members, including founders Ben Finney and Herb Kawainui Kāne; pwo navigators Chad Kālepa Baybayan, Milton “Shorty” Bertelmann, Bruce Blankenfeld, Chadd ‘Onohi Paishon, and Charles Nainoa Thompson; and president of the Friends of Hōkūle‘a and Hawai‘iloa Billy Richards.