HONOLULU (KHON2) — The story of Hōkūleʻa is one that in many ways dates back some 2000 years. It’s also a story that was rarely told because so many thought it to be impossible.

Anthropologist Ben Finney, waterman and researcher Tommy Holmes and artist and historian Herb Kane, who would later form the Polynesian Voyaging Society, connected the many islands of the ocean, as well as their peoples and cultures, in a double hulled voyaging canoe.

Kane’s dream was to reimagine and rebuild a voyaging canoe similar to the ones his ancestors sailed on more than 600 years earlier in a project to be presented to the U.S. Bicentennial Commission in 1976, to celebrate our country’s 20th birthday.

“He wanted to submit this project on behalf of the state of Hawaiʻi and he wanted to build a canoe tour to ancient Hawaiian design and sail that canoe without modern navigational instruments to show that our ancestors really did that to Tahiti and back to Hawaiʻi,” said Young.

At 61 feet long, weighing more than 16,000 pounds, the double hulled, twin masted voyaging canoe took nearly two years to complete. In 1975, what was once a dream became a reality.

One year after its initial launch at Kualoa, Hōkūleʻa went on a two-month voyage from Maui to Tahiti, navigating using only the stars to prove Polynesians could survive an arduous, difficult voyage.

At the helm of the voyage was Mau Piailug, a navigator hand-picked from a small island in Micronesia.

“Thank goodness for someone like Ben Feeney. He was the one that was responsible for bringing Mau to Hawaii and to assist the Hawaiians in trying to retrace those lessons about ancient Polynesian navigation.”

For all the work, fears and challenges, the payoff was more than anybody could’ve ever expected.

Ben Young, a medical doctor by trade, was asked to join the crew for the journey home. He flew to Papeete with Nainoa Thompson and was there for the Hōkūleʻa’s celebrated arrival.

“When we arrived was fantastic. Blowing the conch shell, people singing and the mass of the Haitians on the dock, there waiting to welcome Hōkūleʻa to the ancient homeland.”

“I think, from that foundation, the canoe being there, they believe it. This is their canoe. This is not Hawaiʻi’s canoe. This is their canoe,” said Nainoa Thompson.

Kimo Lyman, an accomplished sailor, joined Young and Thompson to bring Hōkūleʻa back to Hawaiʻi with navigational instruments.

Lyman then went on to be among the first group of voyagers trained to navigate without instruments, though he never expected those skills would be needed.

But for all the sense of accomplishment and pride, Hōkūleʻa would face great challenges.

Finances among them, Young remembers selling posters at the old Holiday Mart for $1 a piece to help fund the Hōkūleʻa.

She would also bring great tragedy. In 1978, the Hōkūleʻa would set sail once again for Tahiti only to capsize just hours into the journey in rough waters off Molokaʻi.

Fearing crew members would succumb to hypothermia and exhaustion, crewmember Eddie Aikau paddled off on a surfboard in search of help. The crew would ultimately be rescued, but Eddie was never found.

“That was obviously the lowest point in Hōkūleʻa history,” Young said. “March 16, 1978. The winds were pretty strong that evening. We realized that Eddie was lost.”

“There was a terrible event, loss of life, made everybody much more aware of problems at sea and made the boat a lot safer,” Lyman added.

Despite the loss of one of Hawaiʻi’s great waterman, Hōkūleʻa would rise again.

Mau Piailug would return to the islands to train Nainoa Thompson to become the next great navigator and over the next two decades, THompson would guide multiple vouages of discovery and rediscovery.

Every sailing brought more knowledge of what’s possible and more understanding of what their ancestors accomplished generations before them.

“For sails will always be hoisted. Her panels will always be dipped in the water and the anchors lifted.”