FOR 10 years now, 500 Sails has been on a mission to restore, promote, and perpetuate the maritime traditions of the Mariana Islands. What follows is a highlight of their programs and activities.
Peter Perez, 500 Sails cofounder, right, teaches how to lash a leklek, or 26-foot-long canoe, during Lalayak, 500 Sails sailing course.
Sailing Programs
In collaboration with Northern Marianas College and Community Development Institute, 500 Sails offers the Lalayak program, a canoe sailing instruction class open to adults and teenagers, where participants are taken through the basics of sailing a Chamorro canoe. Lessons cover a pre-sail checklist, knot tying, man overboard recovery, points of sail, capsizing and righting the canoe, steering, and much more. They are a mix of formal classroom instruction and on-the-water experience. Students must pass an untimed, 400-meter swim test and complete a one-hour water tread before they are allowed entry into the course.
Community members ride a 500 Sails canoe during Saturday Sails. Milton “Junior” Coleman, 500 Sails Executive Director, steers the canoe.
Then there’s the Saturday Sails program where, tide permitting, 500 Sails gives free canoe rides to island residents from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. each Saturday. Canoe rides are about 20 minutes long in the Saipan Lagoon. The Saturday Sails schedule is online at http://www.500sails.org and on the 500 Sails Facebook page (facebook.com/500Sails) and Instagram (@500sails).
500 Sails does not limit its sailing events to the Saipan Lagoon. Over the years it has also taken part in blue water sailing outside the lagoon.
From left to right, Richard Seman, Neni, and Anaguan sail toward Marpi during the Saipan Circumnavigation Sail in 2022.
Circumnavigation Sail—On April 24, 2022, 500 Sails collaborated with Grand Master Navigator Sesario Sewralur, son of famed Micronesian Master Navigator Mau Piailug; his other son, Master Navigator Antonio Piailug; Master Navigator Cecelio Raiukiulipiy; Master Navigator Mario Benito; and Master Navigator Mariano Benito to sail four 26-foot-long canoes around the island of Saipan. The sail was a training sail for 500 Sails Lalayak students. It included an overnight stop at the site of the ancient village of Unai Bapot, which dates back approximately 3,500 years.
Mario Benito captains Neni as her crew executes a lailai, or shunts her sails, off the coast of Banzai Cliff in Marpi during the Saipan Circumnavigation Sail.
The master navigators and their crews began their sail at Smiling Cove Marina and headed north to Marpi. The canoe Aunty Oba, captained by Master Navigator Antonio Piailug, sailed completely unassisted to Unai Baput at Laolao Beach, while the other three canoes, Richard Seman, Anaguan, and Neni, accepted a tow to Unai Bapot in order to make it through the narrow cut in the reef to the shore before dark. The following morning, the crew sailed out of Laolao Bay, around Naftan Point, past Obyan Beach, Ladder Beach, and Agingan, until they reentered the Saipan Lagoon and completed the circumnavigation at Guma Sakman in Susupe.
Sails to Tinian provide an exciting first open ocean sailing experience for sailors who have completed the Lalayak program, and serve as an opportunity for 500 Sails to build relationships with Tinian’s community. In this photo, Richard Seman sails through the waters of Tachogna Beach, with Aguiguan in the background.
In 2019, 2021, and 2022, 500 Sails collaborated with 4-H Club’s Camp Maga’lahi to provide sailing experiences for their campers. Here, two island residents pose for the camera before riding the canoe Richard Seman in 2022.
Tinian Sails—Sails to Tinian provide an exciting first open ocean sailing experience for sailors who have completed the Lalayak program, and serve as an opportunity for 500 Sails to build relationships with Tinian’s community. Master navigators or seasoned sailors lead the sails across the Saipan-Tinian Channel.
In 2019, 2021, and 2022, 500 Sails collaborated with 4-H Club’s Camp Maga’lahi to provide sailing experiences for their campers. 500 Sails crews in 26-foot canoes crossed the Saipan-Tinian Channel each time to participate in 4-H Club’s Camp Maga’lahi activities. In 2019 and 2021 they sailed to Tinian for Gineptin Ha’anen Taga and in 2018, 2019, and 2022 for the Pika Festival. The 2022 Pika Festival sail was particularly memorable due to very rough conditions with 15-20 foot waves.
The 13th Festival of Pacific Arts and Culture—The Festival of the Pacific Arts and Culture, or FestPac, is held every four years and is the world’s largest gathering of Pacific cultural practitioners. This year, Matson Navigation Company shipped four 500 Sails canoes to FestPac in Hawaii where they took part in FestPac’s traditional canoe arrival ceremony that opens FestPac. The Chamorro canoes Che’lu, Ladahao, Aunty Oba and the Carolinian canoe Mikaela joined dozens of canoes from across Oceania as they sailed to the beach at Kauloa. This was the first time in history that Chamorro canoes sailed in Hawaiian waters and gave many of the thousands of people to attended FestPac their first glimpse of Chamorro canoes.
Swimming programs
500 Sails coordinates three swim programs: The Sirena Project, the Gamsun Project, and Dolphin Club Saipan.
The Sirena Project is a swim class for women and teenage girls that allows them to learn to swim in a safe and supported environment. It is hosted on Saturdays or Sundays from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m.
The Gamsun Project prepares teenagers to pass the mandatory swim test required to enter a lifeguard certification class. Instruction includes various swim strokes and rescue strokes. It meets Mondays from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Guma Sakman. 500 Sails cofounder Emma Perez stands in the center.
The Gamsun Project prepares teenagers to pass the mandatory swim test required to enter a lifeguard certification class. Instruction includes various swim strokes and rescue strokes. It meets Mondays from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Guma Sakman.
Dolphin Club Saipan is a community swim club that meets at 6:30 a.m. at the Guma Sakman, Monday to Friday for group swim practice. There is no cost to join or to swim with the DCS. Orange swim caps are required and provided free of charge. Goggles are also provided.
In 10 years of activities, 500 Sails has recorded 15,720 direct contact hours of swimming instruction or swimming programs.
Cultural Maritime Training Center
The Cultural Maritime Training Center, or CMTC, aims to re-establish a strong maritime community in the Marianas by providing professional training tracks that lead to careers on and in the water. The CMTC is located in 500 Sails’ boatyard in Lower Base, Saipan. The facility is a working boatyard with classrooms and administrative offices. Learning activities take place in the classrooms, the boatyard, in the Guma Sakman, and aboard canoes that serve as floating classrooms. Traditional maritime training includes sailing, voyaging, and traditional navigation. Professional training includes U.S. Coast Guard certified courses that lead to OUPV Captain and Master Captain licenses, and American Red Cross certified courses for waterfront lifeguards and water safety instructors.
