Walk Like An Egyptian. Sail Like A Polynesian.

If sailing the open oceans intrigues you and you’re interested in early exploration coupled with adventure, then the story(ies) of early Polynesian sailors are something you’ll enjoy. Navigating huge expanses of the Pacific without modern navigational instruments was an area of expertise for them.

“Let us now consider briefly the feats of Polynesian navigators, of the sturdy Neolithic sea rovers, who, as they quaintly put it, broke through the hanging sky, and explored the vast area of the Pacific Ocean, who rode boldly out on the far-reaching ara moana, or sea roads, in quest of new lands, who crosshatched the heaving breast of Hine-moana with the wake of their lean prau. Long centuries before Columbus and his timid crews crept fearfully across the Western Ocean, the Polynesian was making voyages of thousands of miles in rude open vessels on seas unknown to Europeans. He did not waste time and weaken his resolution by fearing unseen dangers, or by whining to his gods to keep him from falling over the edge of the world, for he firmly believed his gods to be on his side and ever upholding him. Gripping his long steering oar and trimming his lofty sails, he threw the racing leagues astern and boldly sailed down into unknown seas in search of adventure or a new home. Ignorant of the compass and of charts, he held his prow on the heavenly bodies or followed the regular roll of the waves before the trade winds. From the far-flung Carolines to the lone outpost of Easter Island, from Hawaii in the north to New Zealand in the south, across seven thousand miles of the ocean the Polynesian lifted the rolling water trails of the Pacific. Ever yielding to the lure of Hine-moana, urged on by the spirit of adventure, he drove his long boat across many lines of longitude through many degrees of the thermal line.” Source: Polynesian Navigators: Their Exploration and Settlement of the Pacific. Author(s): Elsdon Best Source: Geographical Review , Mar., 1918, Vol. 5, No. 3 (Mar., 1918), pp. 169-182 Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/207638.

So how did the Polynesians find their way around? There are various thoughts.

“Imagine setting sail from Hawaii in a canoe. Your target is a small island thousands of kilometers away in the middle of the Pacific Ocean — a body of water that covers more than 160 million square kilometers. For thousands of years, Polynesian navigators managed voyages like this without the help of modern navigational aids. How did they do it? Alan Tamayose and Shantell De Silva explain.” Source: https://ed.ted.com/lessons/how-did-polynesian-wayfinders-navigate-the-pacific-ocean-alan-tamayose-and-shantell-de-silva