Pacific Paddler February, 2016 - (Page 36)

A voyaging canoe sailing in Taumako's lagoon PHOTOS: H. WYETH Vaka Taumoku Koloso Kaveia and Mimi George in 1997 PHOTO: JAMES BAILEY In mid-1996, the Vaka Taumako (a canoe for Taumako) Project began when Paramount Chief and Master Navigator Koloso Kaveia of Taumako Island and Dr. Mimi George of Hawai`i signed documents required by the Solomon Islands government. This event marked the formal opening of an endeavor that had been in process since Dr. George first visited the Solomons in 1993. Thanks to the hard work and generosity of many people in many places (Taumako, other Solomon islands, Hawai`i, Germany, Australia and mainland USA among others), the twenty years since then have been instructive, productive, and eventful for all involved. Taumako, a small (about 3 x 5 km) island in the Solomons' eastern province of Temotu, is home to about 700 Polynesians who may be the last people to build and sail voyaging canoes like those which enabled their ancestors to become the greatest seafarers of the pre-modern world. Isolated from the more developed islands of the country's western region, Taumako's 1997: Taumako people celebrate the launching of the first voyaging canoes built in 40 years PHOTOS: H. WYETH people live very much as Hawaiians, Tahitians, Below, lashing a canoe together using traditional cordage and Samoans did centuries ago. This means that they still practice crafts that most other Polynesians have forgotten. Among these are skills necessary to construct voyaging canoes from locally grown and processed plant materials. Paramount Chief Kaveia conceived the Vaka Taumako Project (VTP) as a way to preserve, record, and share his people's traditional knowledge with the world. Before his death in 2009, his project achieved many of these goals. The VTP has sponsored construction of several voyaging canoes, training sails in which young people began to learn seamanship and navigation, cultural exchanges between Taumako and Hawai`i, and documentation of Taumako culture by modern means. In 2016, the VTP plans to finish a broadcast quality program about Taumako canoes, finish construction of a new voyaging canoe, and sail from Taumako to northern Vanuatu. All that the VTP has accomplished in the past 20 years has been possible because many people, including readers of Pacific Paddler, have been inspired by Chief Kaveia's vision. Many thanks to every one of them. More on VTP at www.vaka.org 36 PACiFiC PADDLER digital edition FEBRUARY / MARCH 2016 One of the Vaka Taumako Project's goals is to train young people in the community to document their culture using modern methods. These two women are learning how to use a video camera. http://www.p3kona.com http://www.vaka.org

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Pacific Paddler February, 2016

Kanaka Ikaika
Pacific Northwest
OIA
Cook Islands - Vaka Eiva
California Paddling
Wetdashe Dry Change Race
Ikaika Waterman: Kai Wilding
Breathing Mechanics for Paddlers
Vaka Taumoku

Pacific Paddler February, 2016