Polynesian Wayfinding

Polynesian wayfinding is the system of non-instrument open-ocean navigation that settled the Pacific, holding a course by the rising and setting points of stars on a memorized star compass of 32 horizon houses, by the direction of ocean swells felt through the hull, and by the sun, wind, cloud, and the flight of land-finding birds. It carries no compass, chart, or sextant, tracking position by mental dead reckoning. The 1976 voyage of the canoe Hokulea from Hawaii to Tahiti, navigated by Mau Piailug, revived the tradition; Hokulea later circled the globe from 2014 to 2017. It remains a living practice across Micronesia and Polynesia.