The sailing canoes Hōkūleʻa and Hikianalia will be staying in New Zealand longer than previously scheduled.
The Polynesian Voyaging Society announced Wednesday that the change of plans for the Moananuiākea Voyage is because of strong El Niño conditions, and the voyage will be extended for another year.
CEO Nainoa Thompson said NOAA forecasters told him: “The winds are not in your favor,” and “the risk of typhoons is very high,” along with the threat of thunderstorms and lightning.
“Nature is telling us what to do. We go when nature allows us to go, when nature gives us permission to go,” Thompson said in a news release. “And I do think our ability to be sailing for 50 years was being disciplined to that. So 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.”
The plan was to sail to Hokkaido, Japan next year. But the canoes will stay in the southern hemisphere of the Pacific, and then head to Northeast Asia in 2028. That’s when the canoes will sail to Micronesia, the Philippines, Taiwan, Okinawa, mainland Japan, South Korea and Hokkaido.
Current plans are for the canoes to sail to Fiji in October, before returning to New Zealand, the Cook Islands and French Polynesia.
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