Etak

A while back I was sitting in court with my dear friend, Adrienne Andrews, who is also a lawyer and who was helping me with several cases.  During a brief lull in the action, I was telling Adrienne that I had been thinking of writing a story that included quantum mechanics.  My idea involved the notion that, when you are going somewhere in your car, your car never moves.  Rather, what is actually happening is that, as the wheels of the car turn, they are turning the world beneath your wheels.  Imagine riding in the mountains.  What you observe outside your window are the mountains sliding by.  When you turn the steering wheel, you are actually changing the direction of the turn of the earth.

 

The Hokule'a in the harbor at Pago Pago, American Samoa, after sailing here from Tahiti.

Quantum mechanics enters the equation in that every other car on the road is also at the center of its universe.  Thus, the same phenomenon holds true for each of those cars.  That’s why each of us can be doing our own thing without messing up what’s happening with the other.  (Unless, of course, for some reason we find ourselves occupying the same space at the same time.  That usually results in some sheet metal damage.) The same works for walking, or any other method of locomotion for that matter.  It’s kind of fun to play with.  Next time you’re walking down the sidewalk, simply imagine that you are remaining stationary as you observe the world slide by you.  It turns out that my notion isn’t novel.  It’s been around for more than 3,500 years.  How I found out that my notion wasn’t novel, was really fun.

I had an extra minute or two one morning after court, so I decided I'd check out the Tauese P.F. Sunia Ocean Center. It was about time - I've been here 13 months. The state-of-the-art facility, sponsored by NOAA National Marine Sanctuary of American Samoa, features educational exhibits and interactive learning tools to promote ocean awareness and encourage good marine stewardship. I didn't see much of anything of the facility, though, because I got side-tracked by one of the most fascinating conversations I've ever had.

The week before, the Hokule’a (Ho-koo-lay-ah) had arrived in the Pago Pago harbor from Hawaii, via Tahiti.  The Hokule'a is a modern day re-creation of the ancient Polynesian sailing vessel that, by using primitive navigation skills, i.e., no map, compass or sextant, facilitated the discovery and settling of Samoa, then Tahiti, and Hawaii. It is two canoes, each about 60 feet in length joined with a platform, with masts and sails.  The Hokule’a was on the first legs of a 47,000 mile circumnavigation of the globe using nothing by ancient navigation skills, called “wayfinding.”

I walked into one of the display areas of the Ocean Center on this particular morning and found a fellow in a Hokule'a shirt sitting there working at a couple of computers. After I confirmed that he was indeed with the boat, I had some questions, and he was so gracious and engaging in our conversation.  He was Na'alehu Anthony, a Hokule‘a crew member and co-founder of ‘Oiwi TV, which is traveling with Hokule‘a and her sister ship, Hikianalia, to chronicle their journey and share it with the world. 

On the left is one of the two fautasi (warring canoe) which escorted the vessels into Pago Pago  harbor.  In the center is the support vessel, Hikianalia.The Hokule'a is on the right.

One of the first things I asked Na’alehu was about the Hikianalia.  Hikianalia carries the latest navigation equipment, and will provide support to Hokule’a on this circumnavigation.  It kind of bothered me that, should the Hokole’a desire, it could ask the Hikianalia about its position.  Na'alehu assured me that the Hikianalia was there purely as a safety precaution.  The Hokule’a is entirely responsible for the navigation of both vessels – wherever the Hokule’a goes, the Hikialiania follows.

I asked Na'alehu about how the ancient navigation techniques work. He first explained that there’s really no way of determining longitude.  The best they could do was to steer well east of where they knew Tahiti to lie, until they reached Tahiti’s latitude, then take advantage of the tradewinds to sail an easterly course.  And that’s how they arrived at Tahiti from Hawaii.    He went on to explain that determining latitude is a combination of using the sun, moon and stars, ocean swells, currents, clouds, birds and even fish to maintain a course and discover islands.  You know where the sun rises and sets each day.  It’s the same for the moon - as well as the stars.  Each star rises and set at a specific place which varies ever so slightly depending on the time of the year.  By knowing where on the points of a compass these events occur, and your location relative to these points, helps you understand your direction of travel. Of course, the ancients didn’t have a compass.  And wayfinding in the modern era is without the use of a compass.  Instead, wayfinders develop a “star compass.”  That is, by plotting – or memorizing – where stars rise and set, and their positions relative to one another and the horizon, you make a compass by which you determine direction.  The sun is only useful for determining position at sunrise and sunset, and three hours after sunrise and 3 hours before sunset.

Another aspect of this navigation is the use of ocean swells.  The direction of ocean swells doesn’t typically change during a twelve hour period.  There are about three to five primary dominant swells on the open ocean, each of which comes from a specific direction.  The wayfinder has to learn and recognize these swells.  So, for example, at sunrise you note the direction of your travel as determined by the sun, then note the angle at which the swells are striking the boat, and maintain the boat’s position relative to those swells during the course of the day in order to follow a course.  If it’s cloudy, and you have neither sun, nor moon, nor stars by which to steer, you have to rely on the swells.  It’s about paying attention and learning the language through years of experience, training and practice.  You plot speed by calculating your change in position over, say, a 24 hour period. 

Learning how to read the clouds helps determine where the winds will be coming from.  Also clouds can be used as reflectors for revealing the color of the water below.  Deep water is darker than shallow water. The topography of an island will also change the formation of clouds.  By recognizing certain telltale shapes of clouds, you can determine whether there’s an island below them.

If you see a land-based bird flying in a particular direction in the morning, then you know the direction of land is opposite the bird’s line of travel.  Birds can travel more than a hundred miles away from land in search of food.  Fish.  Pelagic fish are those which spend their lives out in the open ocean.  Marlin, tuna, swordfish are examples of pelagic fish.  If you suddenly start catching fish that are typically associated with reefs, then you know there’s land nearby.

So, after all this talk, Na'alehu told me that, in the context of all these aspects of ancient navigation, the wayfinder sees himself as stationary – that the canoe is at rest and it is the islands, the stars and the clouds that are traveling by on the edge of a circle around the canoe.  The wayfinder has the image in his mind where all the islands are, and he knows that, say, about so-and-so distant beyond the horizon over there, such-and-such island is sliding by.  I immediately understood exactly what he meant and thought how funny it was that my idea that cars don’t move while traveling was actually a 3,500 year old idea.  Aha! Vindicated!  There is actually a Satawalian word for it:  “etak.”

Then we talked about the courage and hugeness of the thinking that went into the ancient mariners' first venture beyond the horizon. The innovations of the ancient Polynesians in navigating the vastness and remoteness of the Pacific Ocean, is an intoxicating story of human development. To stand on the shore, gazing out at the horizon, and having your imagination and curiosity nurture your soul to the level of bravery it took to go out there and check it out was one thing. Innovating a vessel capable of safely delivering a population of humans which could reproduce and thrive in new environments was another. Innovating the tools necessary to construct such a vessel, yet another.  Using the sun, moon and stars, ocean swells, clouds, birds and even fish to maintain a course and discover islands is still another.

Here are a couple of links of interest. First is a story of Hokule'a's departure from Hawaii on its around-the-world tour.  The second is an article by National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence, Dr. Sylvia Earle, (Her Deepness) about her visit here to greet the Hokule'a upon its arrival last week.  Hokule’a’s circumnavigation was preceded by several trial runs.  Will Kyselka describes her 1980 voyage to Tahiti in An Ocean in Mind..

This is a tuna warehouse ship.  It usually rests at anchor in the harbor and buys the tuna catch from the purse seiners who are located here.  For Hokule'a's arrival, the port authority asked the riff-raff to kindly wait outside the harbor.  It is seen here steaming out to a suitable anchorage.

This is really cool stuff!