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An evening with Nainoa Thompson in San Francisco

Picture of Hoala Greevy Hoala Greevy September 28, 2023

From the founder

Earlier this week I attended "An Evening with Pwo Navigator Nainoa Thompsom" in San Francisco.

What's happening: Via an email newsletter from the Hawaii Chamber of Commerce of Northern California, I found out Nainoa would be speaking at the Herbst Theatre on Tuesday.

My takeaways:

Nainoa is one of four Pwo in Hawaii
Referred to Herb Kane as the dreamer
Herb Kane was the first captain of the Hokulea
Nainoa reflecting on his teacher, Mau Piailug.: "Mau didn' t like maps."
There are 22,500 fluent ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi speakers now
During its first journey, Mau was on the Hokulea for only the trip to Papeete. He did not join them on the way back to Honolulu.
Hokulea was originally constructed for one journey
"There was a vision for a second voyage."
1978 was the second voyage. "We didn't prepare well."
"Eddie Aikau was the true hero."
"Eddie Aikau, I would say, was the most respected person in the state of Hawaii."
"Every cell in that man's body was engineered to save that race." Nainoa on Eddie.
Nainoa's dad was a social worker by trade
Nainoa was a commercial fisherman in his youth
Mau trained Nainoa for 28 months as a navigator
"Never let your crew members know you're scared." Mau
1980 was the third voyage. That time, Mau was there for both legs.
"There's no difference between Mau and the wave." Nainoa on Mau's connection to the ocean.
In the early nineties, Nainoa became close friends with NASA astronaut Lacy Veach
On his death bed, Lacy asked Nainoa to promise him to sail the Hokulea around the world.
The current journey, Moananuiākea: 43,000 miles in 47 months. It started in April 2022.
After his dad passed away, Byron Mallott became Nainoa's mentor.