TEACHING seafaring traditions to the younger generation is the aim of 500 Sails Inc. which launched four of its sailing canoes with four master navigators at the helm, for a sea voyage around Saipan on Sunday.
500 Sails president Emma Perez said the voyage is part of their Cultural Maritime Training Center voyaging track. “We started basic sailing classes but we wanted to give our students a chance to sail with our master navigators to help pass on the sailing knowledge,” Perez said.
“What we found is that our former Lalåyak (sailing canoe) students need more. Our Sunday sails activity is where they get the chance to practice to sail, but a voyage, we knew is the next step, and they are going to learn a lot,” she added.
The four master navigators participating in the voyage are Sesario Sewralur, Antonio Piailug, Mario Benito, and Cecilio Raiukiulipiy.
Each of the sailing canoes — Neni, Anaguan, Aunti Oba, and Richard Seman — has four student and community sailor crewmembers. The sailing canoes departed Smiling Cove marina Sunday morning.
“The purpose of the sailing activity is to showcase to the younger generation the importance of traditional navigation,” said Sewralur. “Navigation is not only for going place to place, this is also about survival skills.”
Sewralur added, “If you are on a boat, you can go out there in the ocean and use your ‘GPS’ but if the satellite shuts down, or you run out of battery for some reason, you have to use your traditional skills to take you back home.”
He said traditional navigators are familiar with ocean swells which come from different directions.
“The sun, the stars, the wind, ocean current — these are our ‘GPS.’ We also use the birds, because they show you where the land is…. Birds fly as far as 300 miles out to sea to go fishing for their food, and fly back in the evening. If you wake up in the morning and you see a bird flying in a particular direction, then maybe the island is there,” Sewralur said.
According to Benito, they should reach Unai Bapot in Laolao Bay late Sunday afternoon and camp out for the night.
“From Unai Bapot we will sail out Monday morning and complete the circumnavigation of Saipan, to Guma Sakman in Susupe,” Benito added.
Benito said the activity aims to revive the islands’ seafaring culture. “Doing this activity, we want the younger generation to learn how to become a good sailor and navigator,” he added.
Perez said the activity is made possible by a grant from the Northern Marianas Humanities Council.
She said they are considering sailing to the Northern Islands in the near future.
“One of our canoes, the Neni, sailed to Anatahan previously. These sailing canoes are made for Northern Islands,” she added.
Northern Marianas Humanities Council Executive Director Leo Pangelinan, for his part, said they support these activities “because they help strengthen our ties to our cultural past and they also give people new skills — skills that our ancestors, the indigenous people of the islands, had cultivated over the years.”
“It’s not only about sailing,” Pangelinan said, “it’s also learning to work as a team, as a community, as a unit looking out for each other, learning how to tie knots, and latch things together in a pinch…understanding the weather… and a lot of other important skills.”
“I cannot emphasize this enough,” Pangelinan added. “Learning how to sail a canoe with our master navigators, you also learn about how to be more in tune with our environment and nature.”
Master Navigator Mario Benito poses beside the “Neni” before sailing around Saipan on Sunday.
The sailing canoe Anaguan is captained by Master Navigator Cecilio Raiukiulipiy.
Grand Master Navigator Sesario Sewralur is the captain of the sailing canoe Richard Seman.
The sailing canoes begin their voyage around Saipan on Sunday
500 Sails Cultural Maritime Training Center director Eva Aguon Cruz blows the kulo or conch shell to signal the start of the traditional canoes’ trip around Saipan on Sunday.
Sailing canoes Neni and Auntie Oba with Master Navigators Mario Benito and Antonio Piailug at the helm.
