Sailing a Polynesian canoe from Maui to Honolulu via Molokai is not what the Morning Light sailors signed up for, but when Roy Disney asked for volunteers he got 15 immediate hands in the air.

All of the 13 young men and two young women who won positions on the team in tryouts at Long Beach, Calif. last month to sail a Transpac 52 in next July's Transpacific Yacht Race from Los Angeles will get their feet wet on Hokule'a. They'll sail the 62- foot double-hulled voyaging canoe on a two- day expedition Nov. 24 and 25 over Thanksgiving weekend.

Hokule'a was built in the mid-70s to prove the truth of the ancient legend that the Hawaiian Islands were settled by sailing canoes from Polynesia with only natural navigation. No modern Hawaiians had that skill, so in 1976 Mau Piailug, a traditional navigator from the Caroline Islands of Micronesia, was chosen to guide the canoe on a round-trip voyage to Tahiti and back.

Nainoa Thompson, sailing master of Hokule'a, learned the ancient system from Mau Piailug, and in 1980 he became the first Hawaiian navigator in more than 500 years to guide a canoe over the traditional route [to and from Tahiti without instruments.

Thompson will be the navigator for Morning Light's two-day trip touching three of the Hawaiian Islands.

The film "Wayfinders: A Pacific Odyssey" told the tale of how Piailug navigated "using the rising points of the stars, supplemented by observations of the sun, moon, and ocean swells, as a natural compass to guide the canoe. Even when days of solid cloud cover hid the stars, sun and moon from sight . . . and small, white fairy terns skimming over the sea, told Mau that the atoll of Mataiva just the north- northwest of Tahiti was near before it could actually be seen.

The Morning Light team's voyage on Hokule'a will all be in daylight and in sight of land, but Thompson will be joined by Stan Honey to enlighten the young sailors in both the old and new methods of navigation. Honey has navigated numerous Transpacs, including the current record run on Disney's third Pyewacket in 1999, as well as ABN AMRO 1's recent victory in the Volvo Ocean Race.

The Morning Light project leaders met Thompson through team member Mark Towill, a Hawaii resident who has sailed with him.

"He was taken with our youth project," Disney said, "since a lot of what he does is to take young people out and try to teach them the ancient ways of the sea and navigation. He saw the parallel with what we're doing with Morning Light and volunteered to take the young sailors on this amazing voyage."

Like the Morning Light team selection process, the training phase scheduled early next year and then the historic Transpac race, the team's experience on Hokule'a will be filmed as part of the documentary planned for theater release in 2008.

Hokule'a will first sail from Honolua Bay on Maui's northwestern shore and head north around Molokai's eastern tip to Kalaupapa midway along the island's windward (north) shore, a distance of 36 nautical miles. The next day it will sail 54 miles from Kalaupapa to Oahu and past Diamond Head, the landmark volcano that marks the Transpac finish line.

"I love the almost mystical experience this is going to be," Disney said. "It is our link to the past and is the roots of all ocean crossings, especially of Transpac."

Hokule'a is the Hawaiian name for the brilliant star Arcturus that passes directly over the island of Hawaii. The canoe has made six trips to Polynesia, the most recent in 1999-2000. In 1995 with its sister ship, Hawai'iloa, it was shipped to the mainland to cruise the West Coast of the U.S. from Seattle to San Diego.

Following the November voyage, the 15 crew members will return to Hawaii early next year to start training on their Transpac boat, Morning Light, with the prospect of being the youngest crew ever to sail the race. At race time, the average age of the 15 will be 21.2 years, a full year under the record.

Polynesian Voyaging Society:
     pvs.kcc.hawaii.edu/

The film "Wayfinders":
     www.pbs.org/wayfinders/


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