Te Laa o Lata VTP’s Mimi George just had an article published in the Journal of the Polynesian Society, about measuring performance of an ancient Polynesian Sail – Te Laa o Lata. Read Mimi’s article here. Voyaging canoes were the vehicles of ancient Pacific exploration, settlement and interactions. However, we know little about the ocean-going performance of those vessels. This account of Taumako (Duff Islands) voyaging technology draws on 20 years of collaborative research i

In 2005, ninety-six year old Paramount Chief Koloso Kaveia announced his plan to sail (holau) to Vanuatu on a TePuke. He had taught his students how to make short voyages. Now he wanted them to know what they would find if they went further. Kaveia’s family objected to the idea for a couple years, because of his age. In 2007 Kaveia told them “I am the son of Lata” (the Taumako culture hero who was the first voyager) and “I will die on this voyage.” Then his family accepted hi

LUOVA, TEMOTU PROVINCE: For the first time in over thirty years, a Taumako voyaging canoe arrived at Santa Cruz Island’s northwestern tip on Sunday, June 4. Captain Ambrose Miki and his gallant crew, James Mapua, Jonathan Mengo, Willie Lohia, and Harry Vanosi, sailed the tepuke from their home in the Duff Islands to demonstrate their Vaka Valo organization’s achievements and to celebrate Temotu Province’s Second Appointed Day on June 8. Tepuke under sail near Tinakula Island

Holau Vanuatu – VTP’s voyage to Vanuatu – was in the news this week in The Island Sun newspaper in the Solomon Islands. island sun – october 2016 #IslandSun #vakacausey #Lata #vanualava #Temotu #Vaka #press #holauvanuatu #SolomonIslands #VTPSI

Come See how Ancient Polynesian Voyaging is still practiced today. Drs. Simon Salopuka and Mimi George of the Vaka Taumako Project of Solomon Islands present from 12 noon to 1PM, Sept 8. Everyone welcome! limited seating, pay parking available on UH campus, sponsored by East-West Center Pacific Islands Development Program & UH Manoa Center for Pacific Island Studies. Contrary to what has been thought for 45 years, there is a little known, unbroken Polynesian way finding trad

Highlights from Meph and Mimi’s Presentation at Kaua’i Community College 13 October, 2015 About 40 people attended Mimi and Meph’s talk titled “Growing Lata’s Garden.” This presentation was the second in a series called “Balance of Nature” co-sponsored by Kaua’i Community College and the National Tropical Botanical Garden (NTBG). The invitation to speak had come serendipitously when Margaret Clark of NTBG and Meph were participating in the annual NOAA Sanctuary Count of humpb

Lata Continues to Get Around! In June, members of Ka `Imi Na`auao o Hawai`i Nei Institute toured Germany and Switzerland, performing in Heidelberg, Basel, and Augsburg.  An important part of their program was a segment dedicated to the hula goddess Laka, one of the best known of Lata’s Hawaiian manifestations. Under the gaze of Taumako’s Lata, Ka `Imi’s students perform a hula honoring his Hawaiian cousin. #germany #Lata

Chief Kaveia with carving of his ancestor Lata Our aloha and condolences go out to family and friends of Paramount Chief Koloso Kaveia, founder of the Vaka Taumako Project, who recently passed away at his home. During his long and remarkable life, he touched many people in many parts of the world. In Solomon Islands, Germany, New Zealand, Hawai`i, England, Vanuatu, California, Fiji, and Japan live those who cherish his memory.  As befits someone with a wide network of acquain

Sailing With Lata: An Exhibit at Kauai Museum Mimi, Larry, and Meph have been hard at work hanging photos, arranging artifacts, and generally getting in everyone’s way at Kaua`i Museum as they prepare for the official opening of “Sailing with Lata” on 27 April. Here are some pictures to show you how the show looked as of 13 April. We plan to update these as the work progresses, so check this site again later. We hope to have the exhibit ready well before the official opening

In August, 1998, the Te Puke named Vaka Taumako made its first voyage. For the first time in over forty years, a Polynesian voyaging canoe, a vaka, was built using completely traditional methods and materials. For the first time since 1963 a Te Puke voyaged on a traditional route. The people who built and sailed the Vaka Taumako sum up the experience saying “Lata, the first person to build and sail a Te Puke, came back at last.” This is their affirmation that they are still t

How Lata built the first voyaging canoe as told by Paramount Chief Kruso Kaveia for Sailing New Zealand Magazine, July 1999 A man and his wife lived together for a while, and then she became pregnant. They lived on the small island named Tohua. During the wife’s pregnancy she craved to eat freshwater eels, or milo. So, every day her husband had to go to the river to catch some eels, and bring them home to her. The man went to one river, then another, then another, getting eel

by Mimi George, Ph.D. for Sea History Magazine, Spring 1998 How were stone-age Polynesian craft built and how did they perform at sea? What motivated Polynesians to voyage, and how did they find their way. Until Paramount Chief Kruso Kaveia of Taumako, a Polynesian island in the southeast Solomons, asked me to help his people document the building and sailing of a Te Puke, it seemed that we had missed our chance to answer these questions. Renowned maritime scholars swore