My name is Huai-Pu Chen. I’m a celestial navigator whose fieldwork spans over 720 days at sea and more than 20,000 kilometers sailed across the world’s oceans through celestial navigation expeditions.
To confront an era of uncertainty, we must unite Western science with Indigenous wisdom to chart a new course for humanity.
Huai-Pu Chen is a Royal Yachting Association (RYA) Yachtmaster, inventor, scientist, and educator devoted to articulating a universal navigation architecture for the next generation of ocean explorers.
He is an elected Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and the Royal Asiatic Society.
Anchored in Western scientific celestial navigation, he is among the youngest in Asia to receive the prestigious RYA Yachtmaster qualification. He has been involved in major expeditions, including sailing the 77-foot vessel Vinson of Antarctica from the Falkland Islands to Cape Town—over 8,000 kilometres across the Southern Ocean’s Furious Fifties and Roaring Forties—without GPS, relying solely on celestial navigation.
Expanding beyond Western methodologies, he undertakes an expedition with Indigenous Polynesian and Micronesian navigators, practicing traditional wayfinding across the Pacific Ocean without modern electronic devices. This work represents a core element of his mission: to unify navigation knowledge across scientific exploration and Indigenous wisdom.
He has served as a delegate at the 2022 Our Ocean Conference in Palau and the 2025 UN Ocean Conference in France.
His contributions have been showcased by TEDx Talks, Science News, and NASA—and even among the stars, with the asteroid 15554 ChenHuaipu, named in his honour by MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory.
Collaborated with
Navigation is the ultimate union of art and science.
The art of reading the natural world.
And the science of knowing precisely where you stand upon it.
“A sextant, a chronometer, a compass—it is all I need.
There is a profound joy in positioning ourselves by our own hand and the stars, rather than staring at a small screen and following GPS signals.”
“Every civilisation begins with a navigator. Long before the rise of political institutions and written language. Humanity has always entrusted its destiny to those who could read the winds… the stars… and the deep rhythms of the Earth.Those capable of crossing the unknown, carving pathways through uncertainty, and giving birth to new worlds.”
Age 7
At the age of seven, I discovered the passion that would shape my life.
The first time I pulled a massive bonito from the sea, something inside me awakened. From that moment on, I became obsessed with the ocean. Every day, I snorkeled, fished, and explored the coastline, often waking before dawn to fish alone while the world was still asleep.
But the fish were never meant to be eaten. I brought them home alive, turning my room into a small aquarium where I spent countless nights observing marine life in silence.
On certain days, enormous schools of silver fish flooded the harbor, erupting onto the shore when startled. I would dive into the chaos, covered in fish scales, searching for the single rare red bigeye hidden among thousands.
Those childhood moments sparked my lifelong dream of becoming a National Geographic Explorer.
Age 16
My passion for the sea soon translated into pioneering scientific research. Throughout high school, I dedicated three years to fusing marine science with technological innovation, securing First Place at the National Invention Exhibition and winning the National Marine Energy Competition with a Point Absorber Wave Energy Generator.
Age 17
I engineered a self-charging fish tracker that harvests kinetic energy from swimming fish—solving a critical, decades-old industry bottleneck where traditional tag batteries lasted only a month. This breakthrough earned me First Place in Engineering at the Taiwan International Science Fair, and Second Place Worldwide in Engineering Mechanics at the prestigious Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF), alongside a featured interview in US Science News.
https://www.snexplores.org/blog/eureka-lab/isef-2019-new-fish-tag-runs-on-fish-power
Age 20
Selected as one of 18 global youth ocean representatives for the Our Ocean Conference.
During the conference, I had the opportunity to speak with U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, the honorable John Kerry, about my dream.
John Kerry offered profound encouragement, urging me to "sail into the authentic, open sea" so that my resolve and perspective would expand to clearly perceive the world's actual demands for marine development—an exchange that served as the definitive catalyst for my subsequent high-seas expeditions.
Age 20
Fulfilling that vision, I embarked on a one-year ocean gap year along the Pacific and Atlantic coasts. I joined the crew of the USCG-registered sailboat Bella Sirena to launch the Climate Change Sailor Missions
Age 21
Obtained the commercially valid RYA Yachtmaster Offshore Master Captain certificate from the Royal Yachting Association (RYA), the world's most authoritative maritime body.
Age 22
Attended as a delegate to the Third United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC3) in Nice, France. Deeply involved in and promoted expert panel discussions on issues such as Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) and polar ocean governance.
Age 22
Over two years, he worked as an celestial navigator whose fieldwork spans over 720 days at sea and more than 20,000 kilometers sailed across the world’s oceans through celestial navigation expeditions.
He has been involved in major expeditions, including sailing the 77-foot sailing vessel Vinson of Antarctica from the Falkland Islands to Cape Town—over 8,000 kilometres across the Southern Ocean’s Furious Fifties and Roaring Forties—without GPS, relying solely on celestial navigation.
Age 23
Obtained the Royal Yachting Association Yachtmaster Ocean Certificate — the highest level of the RYA yachting qualification system, the pinnacles of traditional celestial navigation in Western maritime science.
Today, I consult for a variety of international brands and am a frequent lecturer at conferences and continuing education programs. I’m also writing a book on the psychology of color, to be published next year.
Every civilisation begins with a navigator. Long before the rise of political institutions and written language. Humanity has always entrusted its destiny to those who could read the winds… the stars… and the deep rhythms of the Earth.Those capable of crossing the unknown, carving pathways through uncertainty, and giving birth to new worlds.
by Huai-Pu