~ Sustainable Seafaring from Oceania. History, Design, and Relevance ~

August 11, 2009

Satawal photos by Steven Thomas








Beautiful pics of a canoe in the front of a canoe house, in the house, stem piece being fitted and one of Mau adzing on a float.

August 07, 2009

Various proa stuff...

Above: A model a-building in the Marshalls and the link:
http://www.geocities.com/wamprogram96960/


Above: Small korkor sailing around Ailuk Atoll

Above is Stoaproa, a breakdown proa and link to building site:

Above is Mango, a 14' cartoppable proa made of plywood and a link to the building site:


Above: A screenshot of a "canoe of Lau" showing a mast crutch in use.



Above: A Marshallese (with a big smile!), his very narrow boat, and some new canoes on the shoreline.

July 02, 2009

The stone money of Yap


An article on the stone money of Yap
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stone_money

- from Wikipedia

June 18, 2009

Hawaiian Watershots

The catamaran Illusion dropping in on a monster wave at the channel to Ala Wai Boat Harbor

Among many great pics at Hawaiian Watershots:
http://hawaiianwatershots.com/

May 11, 2009

Ku Holo Mau - the 2007 tribute voyage to Satawal

Hokule'a's crab-claw sails

Max and Keoni looking for Satawal

Satawal itself - a tiny atoll


Interior of canoe house on Satawal

Found at the Polynesian Voyaging Society website - an article on the 2007 tribute voyage of the Hokule'a and the Alingano Maisu to honor Mau:


May 08, 2009

Reef fish off Ulithy

Reef fish speared off Fedraey, Ulithi

May 07, 2009

Simion Hokule'a

On 26 January 2009, two traditional canoes set sail from Yap, bound for Palau. The main purpose of the voyage, sponsored by the Traditional Navigation Society of Yap, was to recreate the sailing expeditions to Palau the Yapese made in the 16th-century to quarry stone money. The "Mathaw Maraw" was guided by Master Builder and traditional navigator, Chief Bruno Tharngan of Maap, while the 30-year-old "Simion Hokule'a," built by Master Navigator Mau Piailug and his brother on Satawal, was guided by Master Navigator Ali Haleyalur of Lamotrek. There were 17 crewmen on the two vessels: 8 on the "Mathaw Maram" and 9 on the "Hokule'a." [This information comes from a news release issued by Sebastian F. Tamagken, Chief of Media and Protocol for the Yap State Goverment.] The canoes arrived safely in Palau on 29 January. (From Raymond Thomas Martin)

- from the Polynesian Voyaging Society blog

May 06, 2009

Canoe voyaging

On-line resources relating to canoe voyaging - particularly in Hokule'a - from the Polynesian Voyaging Society:
http://pvs.kcc.hawaii.edu/edresources.html

April 16, 2009

Chuukese canoe on the beach

A Semi-Traditional Canoe, outside the hotel on Moen, Chuuk, FSM. Photographed in 1992.(Photograph © 1989-2001 Dirk HR Spennemann)

Closeup of outrigger float attachment.

April 14, 2009

Pacific Studies

Above: PBY Catalina in the Marshall Islands during WWII

"Europeans have long mythologised the sea, a perception which has found famous expression in John Masefield's 'Sea Fever'. Or else the oceans have been demonised, as in Nicholas Monsarrat's enduring novel of wartime, The Cruel Sea. Either way, the sea is conceptualised as being detached from, and separate to, the land — which in one sense it is. There is little of this dichotomy in Pacific Islands cultures where, rather, the nexus between sea and land is to the forefront. In what is likely to be a seminal work, Paul D'Arcy's The People of the Sea explores these relationships within the framework of environmental history. The People of the Sea has been the subject of a book review forum in another journal (see footnote 25), and we are gratified to host another such critical forum. The Editorial Board of The Journal of Pacific History warmly thanks the three contributors for producing their searching critiques on time and to length, and the author for his considered response."

- Doug Munro, at Informaworld, Journal of Pacific History

Follow this link for more at:
http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~content=t713435447
And here, another related link:
http://coombs.anu.edu.au/WWWVLPacific/Pac-Jrnl-Bibliography.html
And here - Digital Micronesia