Part 2 of 4

Video by David Corrigan | Voice of Skyark Rossetti

HILO, Hawaii: In prior years, the Hilo Wayfinding and Navigation Festival has been a whose who of watermen and voyagers.

While that has not changed, there are some noteable faces missing from this year’s event… legends of the science of wayfinding, gone but certainly not forgotten.

The loss of Herb Kane comes immediatly to mind.

The well known artist and resident of Kona died at 82 in March, just days before a tsunami washed over the western shores of Hawaii Island.

In the seventies, Kane helped the Polynesian Voyaging Society design and build the Hokulea… the traditional double-hulled canoe that guided a Hawaiian renaissance in 1976 with its maiden voyage to Tahiti – without the use of modern navigational instruments.

Kane’s paintings and his historical research will serve as an resource and inspiration for decades to come.

Also lost in 2011… George “Boogie” Kalama … a crewmember on that inaugural Hokule’a voyage in ’76.

Kalama passed away on January 19 at Hilo medical Center, but like Kane… his memory lives on.

I has also been two years since the passing of the late master navigator Mau Piailug, credited as the man who resurrected the previously lost Hawaiian navigational techniques, and applying them in the maiden voyage of the Hokule’a.

Organizers hope the wayfinding event will help preserve their memory, and their knowledge.

This week, we’ll have more on the annual event, now in its 4th year.

IN THIS VIDEO: Ka’iu Kimura, Celeste Hao, Kalepa Baybayan

MORE INFO: ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center