Crew Profile

Jason Patterson

Hometown

Hawaiʻi

Voyage(s)

Moananuiākea Voyage – Leg 4: Ketchikan to Prince Rupert

Bio

Jason was in high school when he first sailed on Hōkūleʻa. It was 2006, off the island of Kauaʻi. Nearly 20 years later he has logged thousands of miles on Hōkūleʻa and Hikianalia, as crew member, apprentice navigator and documenter getting much of his experience on the Malama Honua Worldwide Voyage. He is now an independent contractor and someone we can call on for beautiful photos and video.

What continually draws him to sail and serve Hōkūleʻa? He quotes one of her original crew members from her maiden voyage to Tahiti in 1976, Billy Richards: “Hōkūleʻa is the manifestation of all the things that we wish to be, and a reminder of all the things we once were.” Through voyaging, Jason would like to see "The betterment and growth of individual crew members, so that they may take the lessons learned at sea and on land around the waʻa, out to the other communities of which they are a part.” He sees the Moananuiākea Voyage is an opportunity to create community and spread “ʻike and aloha,” and ultimately as having “the capacity and stories to change the world.”

Crew members would never use their fresh water ration to bathe on Hōkūleʻa; they rinse with salt water. So itʻs no surprise that a fresh water rinse is one thing Jason misses while at sea. And what he misses while on land, is something crew members are surrounded by while voyaging - each other. He misses the “camaraderie of the crew.”