Back on about June 3, Jim Farrelly sent us all a post about the ancient navigators of the Pacific. They knew how to find the islands long before compasses and watches/clocks were invented. Who remembers the book Longitude? On June 4, I sent you a post commenting on the book "We the Navigators: The ancient art of Land finding in the Pacific" by author David Lewis. I assume everyone has that book by now. It's a good one. I said that those ancient navigators used the sidereal compass as their most important tool for navigation. Well good news/bad news! I urge every reader on Paddlewise to do a Google search as follows: "Star Man Mau Piailug". Mau Piailug was the last master navigator from the Caroline Islands. He died last week at the age of 78. He and those navigators that preceeded him by 1000 years or more used the sidereal compass as well a wave patterns and many other clues to finding their way across the Pacific. <http:www.nytimes.com/2010/07/18/opinion/18sun4.html> The Google search will bring up several excellent stories about this great navigator. Look up also Hokule'a, 6000 mile voyage from Hawaii to Tahiti. Chuck Sutherland *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Tue Jul 20 2010 - 19:57:54 PDT
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