Hawaiʻi’s voyaging canoes Hōkūleʻa and Hikianalia have reached a major milestone on their journey to French Polynesia, having crossed Ka Piko o Wākea, the equator, into the Southern Hemisphere.

When navigators determined they were crossing Ka Piko o Wākea, the crew conducted a ceremony on board. Pwo Navigator Bruce Blankenfeld said “we shut down, we gather, we have a little ʻawa we mix and offer first to Kanaloa and to those, kūpuna and ʻaumākua, who came before us and a lot of them are on board with us.”

Blankenfeld said it is also a time to recalibrate feelings and focus of purpose, as well as to talk, especially for the several crew members who are voyaging deep-sea and long-distance for the first time. Upon completion of the ceremony, the crew opened the sails and continued on their journey.

Prior to reaching the equator, PVS CEO and Hōkūleʻa captain Nainoa Thompson said they faced the thickest band of the Inter Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), or doldrums – approximately 400 miles – that he has encountered in his 49 years of voyaging. It is an area where northeasterly and southeasterly winds converge, often creating unstable weather, thick cloud cover and heavy downpours. At one point, a very large area of thunderstorms and lightning, combined with lack of wind to sail away from that area, put the canoes in danger, forcing Thompson’s decision to have Hikianalia, which has engines, tow Hōkūleʻa away from the storms. However; even then, the canoes and crew maintained navigation integrity by Hōkūleʻa navigators communicating via radio to Hikianalia, direction based on observations of nature.

The canoes are now more than two-thirds of the way from Hilo to their destination. Canoes and crew are reported to be in good condition. Hōkūleʻa and Hikianalia are expected to sight land in approximately 5 to 7 days, weather permitting.