Topias Urupoa, a 70-year-old master navigator, led 15 voyagers on two of the canoes that sailed all the way from Satawal, an outer island of Yap.
They landed at the Susupe beach right next to the venue of the four-day festival that started yesterday.
The third canoe with 10 people on board under chief navigator Cesario Sewralur arrived from Palau.
The voyagers are students of Urupoa and Sewralur who are trying pass on to the new generation the traditional navigational skills they have learned from their forefathers.
Gov. Benigno R. Fitial, Carolinian Affairs Office Director Angie Mangarero, Department of Community and Cultural Affairs Secretary Cecilia Celes and members of the local community welcomed the voyagers.
Urupoa’s son, Cecilio Raiukiulipiy, said the purpose of the voyage is to participate in the festival and test the young sailors’ skills.
Keeping in touch
Yap Gov. Sebastian Anefal, who arrived by plane to also take part in the festival, said canoe voyaging used to be their only means of communication and migration.
It was how they kept in touch with their families and know what was happening on the other islands, he said.
By teaching the youth how to build canoes and sail them from one island to another, an important part of Pacific island culture is being preserved, he added.
With Governor Fitial as his translator, Urupoa said they did not encounter much hardship during their journey.
It was “smooth sailing,” he said.
Camillo Erakmai, one of the boat captains, said for five days, “we were under the sun or under the rain. That’s all. There’s nowhere to go, so we just stayed on the boat.”
At night, “we kind of just sit to get a little bit of sleep. And it’s not a real sleep. Maybe just for 30 minutes because we always had to be alert.”
Erakmai said their food consisted of breadfruit that was prepared to last for days.
They also didn’t husk the coconuts they brought along to make these last longer, he added.
He said the hardest part of the voyage was when they encountered strong wind and big waves that prevented them from sleeping.
“But we get used to it,” Erakmai said.
Cultural preservationist and Carolinian historian Lino Olopai, who made the same voyage in 1974, 1976 and 1977, said navigators have to be careful with their rations of food and water.
Whenever they go on a long voyage, he added, they consider themselves as one being.
In order for the voyagers to survive, Olopai said they have to listen to the navigator.
To become a navigator, one should undergo the sacred initiation ritual known as “pwo.”
