Any Pacific Islands Actively SAILING Two Hulls and Outriggers ?

[swami maximus]

This is a call out to cruisers of the world! Can any of you please report back of islands in the Pacific that you know of who actively still use sail as a primary means of transportation on double hulled canoes or outrigger sailing canoes? I am trying to paste together a dissertation proposal and all of the islands I want to go to have gone the way of the outboard, or otherwise sail in token fashion (sport, renaissance-PVS style).

[Hud3]

I just saw a presentation at the Bishop Museum planetarium in Honolulu about the Polynesian Voyaging Society's expeditions. They built a replica of a Hawaiian voyaging canoe, the Hōkūle‘a, which was launched in 1975. They first sailed it from Oahu to Tahiti to demonstrate the ability to navigate solely by the stars, ocean swells, and sightings of birds. Since then they've made a number of passages to every corner of the Pacific. It's amazing what can be done without a GPS!

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by swami maximus

This is a call out to cruisers of the world! Can any of you please report back of islands in the Pacific that you know of who actively still use sail as a primary means of transportation on double hulled canoes or outrigger sailing canoes? I am trying to paste together a dissertation proposal and all of the islands I want to go to have gone the way of the outboard, or otherwise sail in token fashion (sport, renaissance-PVS style).

G'Day Swami,

As of ~1993 (our last visit to this area) the inhabitants of Kioa Island to the East of Vanua Levu, Fiji were still using sailing outriggers extensively for fishing and local transport. These folks were not Fijians, but people who were moved there from Tuvalu (Ellice Islands).

Don't know if this is still true, but with the price of petrol in those islands as it is, I wouldn't be surprised!

Hope that this helps.

Cheers,

Jim and Ann s/v Insatiable II lying Manly, Qld, Oz

[swami maximus]

i am quite familiar with the PVS. it was a remarkable feat. i have been considering satawal for that very reason (mau piailug was from there). tuvalu folks in fiji are exactly the kind of lead i am looking for.

any moreout there? i know that it is a dying art, but there has to be a few more \...


cheers
sm

[VirtualVagabond]

Swami,

I have a vague recollection of the Torres Straight Islanders having an interesting sailing technique, and they were still sailing a couple of decades ago.

As I recall, they steer with a sweep oar from the back. Their boats have the mast in the centre and bow and stern are identical. Their tacking technique was different. At the end of the leg they fall off the wind, swing the sail to the other side of the mast, lift the steering oar and run it to the other end of the boat as what was the stern swings up into the wind and becomes the bow for the next leg.
It could be an interesting one to look into.

Vic

[imagine2frolic]

I believe you can go to the Wharram website, and find some information there. He donated a boat built in the Philippines to a small group of islands farther east......i2f

[tsmwebb]

Last time I was in Fanning Is. (Line Islands) they were still using sailing proa's for subsistence fishing in the ocean. Not sure that qualifies as transportation -- AFIK they are not making any inter-island passages. I recall a place in Vanuatu (Havana Hbr Efate) where the villagers paddled from their village to their gardens and then sailed home most days... Though paddling seemed more common than sailing elsewhere in Vanuatu.

Tom

[swami maximus]

The type of boat is called a Proa, and it is a shunting rig that flips the sail and reverses the direction. Its a groovy design. The micronesians have (in my mind) perfected it. bloody fast. the side with the outrigger is always to windward. the hull is an asymetrical double ender. if you look at a cross section of the hull one side will be rounded (windward) and the leeward side will be sharp (traction).
yeah, wharram headed a donation of one of his designs to the islanders of tikopia and anuta. i followed that one a while. torres strait is a good lead. im just needing to find folks that still do it... everyone and everywhere i go uses outriggers still but not sail driven. they have all converted to outboards (even with a token mast onboard).

i am currently in in indonesia tracking down the orang laut (sea gypsies) and pirates in malaka straits. bugis used huge schooners called pinisi that are amazing, though sadly (as already mentioned) they are motorized with only a scrap of sail (one of seven original to the design) to exclude them from shipping regulations specific to motorized vessels.

cheers, sm

[Blue Stocking]

James Michener's early chapters in "Hawaii" are spell-binding. Since reading this many years ago, I cant sail by a bouy without studying the current flows.

[donradcliffe]

The PNG islanders in the Louisiades Archipelago do a lot of inter-island voyaging on locally built sailing catamarans. I'm having a hard time remembering what they looked like--I should have bought one of the models they were trying to sell me. They did sail pretty well--even with blue tarp sails they were capable of 7-8 knots.

[imagine2frolic]

You can google Boracay Philippines Sailing for some fun & fast tri sailing.......i2f

[NoTies]

Rabi Island, northwest Fiji. Inhabitants are Banaban Islanders. Never seem to see the Fijians sailing which is kind of sad.