Penny Martin Shares Hokule’a Memories on Voyage Anniversary
By Catherine Cluett Pactol | Editor
Exactly 47 years ago, Molokai’s Penny Rawlins Martin was sailing aboard Hokule’a on its return leg from Tahiti to Hawaii during its inaugural voyage in 1976. She was 24 years old, one of the youngest on board – and one of only two women selected for that original crew.
The voyage from Hawaii to Tahiti and back represented proof that early Polynesians could indeed sail across the ocean without the use of modern navigation tools. Instead they used the stars and environmental observations to guide them over the open ocean, nearly 3,000 miles each way. …