Wednesday, May 04, 2016

Screening of Sam Low's "The Navigators" in the Brooklyn Bridge Park, Friday, May 6th



Copying (with slight revisions) from an email invitation I just sent around, in the interest of getting this onto my blog without delaying my month-end close reporting any more:

I wanted to let you know about an event that I'm working on for this coming Friday, with the help of Noah at the Brooklyn Bridge Boathouse. Sorry about the short notice, this all happened pretty fast!

If you've been following Frogma for any time at all, you are probably aware the upcoming June visit to NYC of the Polynesian voyaging canoe Hokule'a. This 40 year old performance-accurate replica of a traditional Hawaiian sailing wa'a has been traveling around the world using traditional Polynesian wayfinding techniques - no compass, no GPS, just stars, currents, wave patterns, birds, clouds, etc. 

Hokule'a was a VERY big deal when I was a kid in Hawaii, so I just about fell off of my chair when I found out she was coming here. She'll be here in early June, and as one of the leadup events, I'll be showing Sam Low's The Navigators, a fantastic documentary about how the wayfinding skills, although fading away in the 70's, were still very actively in use in the Caroline Islands, and how the partnership between the dreamers and builders and first sailors of the Hokule'a, and one of the last of the traditionally trained navigators, Mau Piailug, first began.

 We'll also have an update from 2015 showing some highlights from the current voyage (Hokule'a has sailed many many miles since she was launched, but right around this time last year, when she left New Zealand and sailed for Australia, was the first time she'd ever left her Pacific home waters), and we'll be joined by Mahina Richards, who was a crew member aboard Hokule'a during the 2014 leg (Pacific) of the Malama Honua voyage, and she'll be telling us a little about what it's like be out there on the wa'a, and participating in a Q and A. This should be a very good evening! Friday the 6th (coming right up here); space is somewhat limited so RSVP's would be greatly appreciated! Please feel free to spread the word, this should be a fun evening!

 For full details and RSVP link click here

 For Mahina's favorite blog post from her time aboard, click here.

Thank you to the Brooklyn Bridge Park, Brooklyn Bridge Park Boathouse, and Halawai for all the help in setting this up! 


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