AT the first Yona Water Festival on Guam on Saturday, Aug. 2, Keith “Boat Doctor” Quintanilla, his family, and residents of Yona launched the canoe the Quintanillas had been working on for months, placing it in the water for the first time.
The three-day-long Yona Water Festival was held at Tagachang Beach, with the theme “Islands in Motion by the Ocean.” According to a Guam media source, the festival included arts and crafts vendors, cultural performances, live music, and more.
Variety has been covering Quintanilla’s efforts to create a Chamorro-designed canoe on Guam. His 26-foot-long canoe was fabricated entirely on the island, using the 500 Sails canoe Aunty Oba as a plug to create a mold.
In 2024, Aunty Oba was in transit to Saipan after participating in the Festival of Pacific Arts and Culture in Hawai‘i. The canoe needed repairs, and since 500 Sails had previously worked with Quintanilla to repair other canoes in its fleet, he agreed to help. In exchange, Quintanilla was given permission to use Aunty Oba to fabricate his own canoe. From the mold, Quintanilla and his sons created the main hull, outrigger, and other major components of the canoe.
Quintanilla emphasized that during the building process, his sons handled the fiberglass fabrication, while he supervised their efforts.
“It’s a true blessing,” he said of their involvement. “Any father seeing their kids develop a skill — and a skill that is hard to come by now — is a true blessing. There’s no other feeling when you can say, ‘Hey, my kids are the ones who built this.’ You can look at the product and know these guys not only built it, but they built it with skill, and with the thought of how it’s going to look when it’s completed. This is their product of love that they built, and it’s me … standing back and guiding them.”
To prepare the canoe for the Yona Water Festival, Quintanilla and his sons lashed the main hull, spars, and outrigger — a process, he said, that took around four hours.
At Tagachang Beach, the canoe was put on display and then blessed by a cultural chant group. It was later carried into the waters of Tagachang for the very first time.
With the canoe completed, Quintanilla said his work is only just beginning. He hopes to eventually sail beyond Guam’s shores.
“I feel like my journey has just begun again because we’re looking for a team that can take our canoe to the Northern Islands,” he said. “We’ll need to get that team properly trained to make sure they’re safe.”
Although he has not finalized a name for the canoe, a leading contender is Anghet i Tasi, or Angel of the Ocean.
Quintanilla’s goals include building even more canoes. He wants the different villages on Guam to have their own canoes, in an effort to restore the island’s traditional maritime heritage.
“If I could secure additional funding, I would definitely use Anghet for another plug,” he said. “Then, depending on the amount of funds, I would love to build something bigger — maybe even a double hull. I’ve built three canoes. This is the third proa I’ve built. I’ve built two boats: one 12-foot, one 14-foot. I would love a 40-footer if the funding was available.”
His next steps include working with the community to identify a permanent beachside location for the canoe and a canoe house.
He also welcomes mariners to collaborate in sailing the canoe.
“I want to make sure things are safe,” he said. “They [the mariners] should have some kind of background in traditional canoe sailing, some kind of background in water safety. I want them to be active members of the crew — ones who will make this a productive tool for the community to use.”
The canoe built by the Quintanillas touches the water for the first time on Saturday, Aug. 2.
Guam residents carry the new canoe to the waters of Tagachang Beach on Saturday, Aug. 2.
The Quintanilla-built canoe rests on the shore of Tagachang Beach during the first Yona Water Festival.
The new canoe was fabricated on Guam.
