Charles Nainoa Thompson (born March 11, 1953, in Oahu, Hawaii[1]) is a Native Hawaiian navigator and the president of the Polynesian Voyaging Society. He is best known as the first Hawaiian to practice the ancient Polynesian art of navigation since the 14th century, having navigated two double-hulled canoes (the H?k?le?a and the Hawai?iloa) from Hawai?i to other island nations in Polynesia without the aid of western instruments.