Sail plan adjusted for Moananuiakea Voyage after NOAA’s latest climate outlook
HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – The Polynesian Voyaging Society (PVS) said the sail plan for Hokulea’s Moananuiakea Voyage is being adjusted due to elevated weather risks and climate outlook.
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PVS announced the revised schedule Wednesday after conducting research and tracking the progression of El Nino with data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
The society said NOAA’s National Weather Service Climate Prediction Center forecasts a 97% probability that El Nino conditions will continue through Spring 2027, and an 81% chance of conditions continuing this October through December. The event would rank among the strongest events in 75 years, increasing risk of dangerous weather and sailing conditions across the Western North Pacific.
PVS CEO and Pwo navigator Nainoa Thompson spoke with forecasters at the center.
“The winds are not going to be in your favor. The risk of typhoons is going to be very high, and the heat that’s coming out of the ocean is going to create convection, convection creates thunderstorms, thunderstorms create lightning. So there is a whole menu and safety checklist we look at in terms of determining where we go,” Thompson said.
The revised schedule will add one year to the trip.
PVS said the original sail plan was for Hokulea and Hikianalia to sail as far north as Hokkaido, Japan in 2027, but now crews will keep the canoes in the southern hemisphere. They’ll then head to Northeast Asia in 2028.
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Both voyaging canoes have been in Aotearoa (New Zealand) since November.
Over the next 17 months, PVS said the canoes will visit Fiji and then make return visits to Aotearoa, the Cook Islands and French Polynesia.
The society added that the shifting time is not a pause in the voyage, but a chance to provide meaningful opportunities for deeper cultural exchange, expanded education outreach and collective climate action with communities and institutions across the Pacific.
“Nature is telling us what to do. We go when nature allows us to go, when nature gives us permission to go,” Thompson said. ” I don’t see it as postponement. I don’t see it as delay. I see it as being respectful, paying attention, being humble with nature, especially now when the weather is what I would characterize as extreme.”
In early 2028, PVS said the canoes will depart Micronesia and head to the Philippines, Taiwan, Okinawa, mainland Japan, South Korea and Hokkaido.
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