Marianas group want to recover lost sailing arts

NORTHERN MARIANAS – Hundreds of traditional boats could be sailing again in Northern Marianas waters.

The group 500 Sails is co-ordinating the building of 500 “flying proas” – native inter-island boats that people of the Chamorro Islands used to sail across the northern Pacific before the Spaniards colonised the islands and renamed them.

By the 1800s, hearing only the Spanish version of history, few Chamorros were even aware that their ancestors were once accomplished boat builders and sailors who created and sailed the fastest sailing vessels in the world.

The plan is to match the number of proas that met the Spanish galleon San Pedro when it arrived in Guam in 1565 – before the Spanish colonizers suppressed the practice of building and sailing the boats often described as the best traditional sailing canoe in the Pacific.

In the 16th and 17th centuries, Europeans who came to the Northern Marianas marvelled at what they saw – hundreds of sailing canoes would meet their ships at sea, surrounding them, sailing circles around them at speeds that were much greater than the fastest Spanish ships.

The 500 Sails project derives its name from an excerpt from the log of the commander of the Spanish galleon San Pedro, Miguel López de Legazpi:

“We were no more than two leagues from the island when fifty or sixty proas under sail surrounded the fleet. These proas were furnished with lateen sails of palm mats and were as light as the wind’

“The day had scarcely begun when a great number of these proas appeared about us – more than four or five hundred around the ships.”

The skills to make these craft – known locally as sakman – have been largely lost but the ambitious plan is to have 500 boats sailing by 2030.

It is central focus of a mission to the rebuild Chamorro maritime and navigational traditions that were lost during the Spanish colonial era – but partially recovered through recent work by researchers and boat builders on Saipan, Guahan and San Diego, California.

Long lost and forgotten information on boat design and construction and aspects of maritime tradition in Micronesian cultures was brought to light through the recent work of anthropologists and historical researchers.

Inspired by the renaissance of traditional sailing skills in Polynesian islands, 500 Sails executive director Peter Perez said a skilled team of leaders would help participants build their own proas and rediscover their ancestral arts.

A typical Chamorro outrigger was up to 8.5 metres long carrying a crew of five to seven men and women.

Perez said the project would not only benefit the CNMI and Guam culturally but will also be a boon to the tourism industry.

The 500 Sails project website says the project is the “logical next and final step in the movement to restore the Chamorro maritime tradition to our islands”.

“500 Sails will put both proa construction and sailing skills into the hands of Marianas islanders.

It will accomplish this through the establishment of a guma sakman (canoe house) on Saipan where knowledge and skills will be developed and shared with those interested in building and owning their own proas.

“The guma sakman will be tooled and supplied with all that is needed for proa construction.

“Participants will learn by building and sailing their own proas with the help and guidance of experienced builders and sailors and will pay only for the cost of materials.

“Participants will be encouraged to share their acquired knowledge and experience with subsequent participants by becoming regular and active members of the guma sakman community.”

- PNC sources