#Voyaging

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How does Lata’s sail work?

Jan 1, 2018
2 min

How does Lata’s sail work?

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

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Ancient Searoads and Commitments to Sustainability in Eastern Polynesia

Dec 14, 2017
20 min

Ancient Searoads and Commitments to Sustainability in Eastern Polynesia

by Mimi George Part One: Malama Honua, Gershon II and Rapanui I am a cultural anthropologist and sailor, focused on voyaging traditions. I study how ancient knowledge can help us today. I just crewed on the escort boat to the voyaging canoe (wa’a) Hokule’a during the penultimate leg of her Malama Honua (Care for the Planet) World-Wide Voyage. For the last three years the iconic Hawaiian double-hulled canoe has sailed round the world to “weave a lei” of “stories of hope,” as s

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Vaka Taumako Project at UC Irvine

Sep 23, 2017
1 min

Vaka Taumako Project at UC Irvine

Dr Mimi George of the Vaka Taumako Project will give the keynote presentation “Lata’s Wayfinding System and Climate Science” followed by Q&A October 18 at 7:30PM in Room 1030 of the Humanities Gateway at UC Irvine. Then, at 8:30PM in the at McCormack Film Screening Room, join us for We, the Voyagers: Matou Nga Mokupuna o Lata, a sneak preview of the first of Vaka Taumako Project’s documentary series, followed by Q&A. Join us October 18 – 19 at UC Irvine. More information, inc

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Check out our Kickstarter!

Jul 19, 2017
1 min

Check out our Kickstarter!

We’re raising funds to help Taumako videographer Dixon Wia, who’s busy documenting the Polynesian voyaging traditions of his ancestors, in hopes of keeping them alive for new generations. Dixon needs training and equipment to tell the story of his ancestors and keep ancient voyaging traditions from being lost. Check us out our Kickstarter here. we’ve got are lots of great incentive gifts for backers, and you’ll be helping Dixon and the Taumako community keep the cameras r

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Tepuke from Taumako arrives in Santa Cruz

Jun 13, 2017
2 min

Tepuke from Taumako arrives in Santa Cruz

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

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Meph’s Report from Solomon Islands and Vanuatu

Jan 30, 2017
3 min

Meph’s Report from Solomon Islands and Vanuatu

by Meph Wyeth Mimi and Meph spent most of November in Solomons and, in Meph’s case, northern Vanuatu. They hoped to participate in Holau Vanuatu, a voyage from Taumako to Vanua Lava in the Banks Islands. Traditionally vaka would sail this route during November. riding the Patapu (northerly) wind, and waiting out the cyclone season before returning home in May or June. Originally planned for 2015, the voyage was scuttled by Cyclone Pam, which tore through Temotu Province and V

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Sailing With Lata/Laka: Presentation at East West Center

Aug 24, 2016
1 min

Sailing With Lata/Laka: Presentation at East West Center

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

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Gli Gli Voyage – Traditional Caribbean Canoes

May 6, 2016
4 min

Gli Gli Voyage – Traditional Caribbean Canoes

by Mimi George and Aragorn Dick-Read In 1995 a 35 foot long Carib fishing canoe made in Dominica Island. The tree that became Gli Gli grew on the 4000 acre parcel of remote Atlantic coast that is home for Carib (Kalinago) people. They are the survivors of violent European incursion in the 1600s. Sugar plantations thrived everywhere on Dominica except the mountainous area that became the Carib Reserve. There the trees had not been cleared for sugar production. Kalinago people

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Help Sail to Vanuatu this November

Mar 11, 2016
2 min

Help Sail to Vanuatu this November

Aloha Tatou, The Vaka Taumako Project of Solomon Islands is preparing for a voyage from Taumako to Vanuatu in November, 2016. The aim of this voyage is to reunite the families who have been separated for over 70 years by a closed border. There are family members on both sides who have not seen each other all this time, and they plan to do it before they die. When this border re-opens for local residents then there will be a revival of regional community and people from both

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Two Oceans or One? Hokule’a at the SW Capes of Africa

Dec 3, 2015
6 min

Two Oceans or One? Hokule’a at the SW Capes of Africa

The aim of the Malama Honua World-Wide voyage is to sail a thread of connection round the world and share stories of hope that will help us all Malama Honua – care for each other and our planet. According to Hokule’a crewman, Kaimana Barcarse, the Hawaiian concept of moana is singular – there is one ocean and it is our mother all around the world. But in written history the Cape of Agulhas and the Cape of Good Hope are where the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic Oceans meet, wi

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Voyagers and Ancestors In South Africa

Nov 10, 2015
4 min

Voyagers and Ancestors In South Africa

by Mimi George As “Gershon II” sails along the South African coast, I feel the part of what Genesis says is the meaning of Gershon – “a stranger in a strange land – always to be treated as family.” Yes, along this “wild coast” of South Africa we are embraced as family … and yes, the problems and challenges of the people here are all too familiar. The more I talk-story with Zulu, San, Xhosa, Indian, Africaner, Portuguese, Muslim, and other South African citizens, the more I s

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The View From Behind

Oct 30, 2015
6 min

The View From Behind

Hokule’a and Gershon II Rounding the Cape of Good Hope by Mimi George I was home in Anahola writing about the amazingly efficient lauhala mat sail of Polynesian voyaging canoes in the S.E. Solomon Islands, when I got the call. Steve and Cheryl Kornberg needed crew for the passage round the southern tip of Africa – the Cape of Good Hope. Their motorsailing home, Gershon II, is the support boat for the Hokule’a during the Tasman Sea, Indian and Atlantic Ocean legs of their “M

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Image & Reality in Polynesian Voyaging

Oct 15, 2013
1 min

Image & Reality in Polynesian Voyaging

Presented by Marianne George, Ph.D and Meph Wyeth Image and Reality in Polynesian Voyaging is a mesmerizing mixed media presentation of the Vaka Taumako Project. Researchers George and Wyeth will show how icon images distort both scholarly and common representations. They will present photos and video footage, some never before shown, of authentic Polynesian canoe building and sailing and how the wind-based Polynesian navigations system is used by Polynesians in the western

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Jul 22, 2013
1 min

We, The Voyagers – Trailer

#penchansky #Voyaging #holau #Kaveia #trailer #Polynesian #video #vimeo #film #bbc

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Te Lapa

Jul 14, 2012
1 min

Te Lapa

In addition to their vast knowledge of asterisms, wind, waves, and currents, sailors of the Duff and Reef Island groups make use of a unique phenomenon that has barely been documented, let alone witnessed by outside researchers. Te Lapa, literally “the flashing,” was first described as “underwater lightning” by Dr David Lewis in his book We, The Navigators. Chief Kaveia taught his students that these flashes travel on the surface of the ocean, and not underwater. On dar

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The Cognitive and Cultural Dynamics of Taumako Navigation

Apr 17, 2009
2 min

The Cognitive and Cultural Dynamics of Taumako Navigation

A Preliminary Report by Dr. Marianne “Mimi” George Prepared for the National Science Foundation 2009 In the eight sections of this report are some detailed outlines of the data with some illustrations and photos provided in sections I, III, and VI. More general descriptions of data are provided for sections II, IV, V, VII, and VIII. In conclusion section IX offers observations as to how the data might prove or disprove our four hypotheses. General Hypotheses: Taumako navigat

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NAVIGATION AND PILOTING USING TE LAPA

Apr 15, 2009
3 min

NAVIGATION AND PILOTING USING TE LAPA

III. NAVIGATION AND PILOTING USING TE LAPA – FLASHES OF LIGHT THAT EMANATE FROM LAND Elaborations on previously conveyed and demonstrated data was given by Kaveia several other people who took voyages. A summary list of distinct characteristics of Te Lapa and a complex diagram that has comparative value for Marshallese diagrams is given here. General Characteristics of Te Lapa: Light coming across the surface of the sea – Visible coming straight from land (including reefs) di

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NAVIGATION USING SWELLS AND WAVES

Apr 15, 2009
2 min

NAVIGATION USING SWELLS AND WAVES

II. NAVIGATION USING SWELLS AND WAVES – “HOKOHUA LOA AND HOKOHUA KIKO” Data was elaborated that added to and built upon previously conveyed data (during 27 inter-island voyages in the Santa Cruz Group and between Taumako and New Zealand in small sailboats during 1993 – 2005). The new data includes various drawings and discussions of how one senses the phenomena and how widespread it is, and in three demonstrations at sea (outside the fringing reef) within 5 n.m. of Taumako du

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NOHOANGA TE MATANGI – POSITIONS OF THE WIND

Apr 15, 2009
10 min

NOHOANGA TE MATANGI – POSITIONS OF THE WIND

I. NOHOANGA TE MATANGI – POSITIONS OF THE WIND A navigational system correlating a horizonal array of wind positions with other observable phenomena – e.g. swells, sunrise and sunset paths, celestial bodies, seasons, dynamic behavior of winds, solstices and equinoxes, voyaging routes, star paths, etc. – and built upon an awareness and perception of phenomena that are not taught in western navigation or seamanship. Clarification and elaboration of the Nohoanga Te Matangi data

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The Return of Lata: Building an Authentic Polynesian Voyaging Canoe

Feb 17, 1998
10 min

The Return of Lata: Building an Authentic Polynesian Voyaging Canoe

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

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