By Bryan Manabat
[email protected]
Variety News Staff
THREE traditional sailing canoes from 500 Sails departed Saipan on Thursday morning for Tinian as part of the annual Tinian Hot Pepper Festival, also known as Pika Fest, scheduled for Feb. 13–14.
The fleet — the double‑hulled Waa Heragh, the Carolinian Mikaela, and the Chamorro proa Neni — left Susupe Beach at 8:30 a.m. after gathering at Guma’ Sakman earlier in the morning. An escort boat with Captain Larry and a support crew, including a lifeguard and a 500 Sails sailor, accompanied the canoes.
500 Sails Executive Director Jun Coleman said conditions were favorable following the end of a high surf advisory at 6 a.m.
“We’re going to be heading south and going out of Sugar Dock — the channel over there,” Coleman said. “We should get to Tinian pretty quickly, but to get all the way down to San Jose will take a while.”
Coleman noted that while the distance between Saipan and Tinian is only about three miles, the sail to the harbor adds time to the trip.
“Just from here to Tinian, there’s only three miles,” he said. “But we gotta go all the way to where the harbor is, so that’s where it takes a little while longer.”
This year’s voyage includes 500 Sails staff and a majority of Lalayak program graduates from mixed cohorts. It will be the first Tinian crossing for Waa Heragh and Mikaela. Crew sizes are five for Waa Heragh, nine for Mikaela, and four for Neni.
Coleman said the group remains attentive to changing conditions.
“It should be okay. This is like the fourth or fifth trip,” he said. “But we’ll keep an eye on what’s happening in the weather, the waves, the currents, and the wind.”
The trip is coordinated with the Tinian Municipal Government.
“Yes, thanks to the support of Mayor Edwin Aldan and the community,” Coleman said. “All of them are part of the Pika Fest annual event. We also have an education, Marianas‑wide group that is going to be there — students from Guam, Saipan, Tinian, and Rota will be gathering in unity.”
The canoes are expected to remain on Tinian through the festival, with a tentative return to Saipan on Sunday morning, weather permitting.
“As always, Mother Nature may alter our schedule,” Coleman said.
Bryan Manabat was a liberal arts student of Northern Marianas College where he also studied criminal justice. He is the recipient of the NMI Humanities Award as an Outstanding Teacher (Non-Classroom) in 2013, and has worked for the CNMI Motheread/Fatheread Literacy Program as lead facilitator.
