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Yap to host canoe summit
Dr. Eric Metzgar, left, and pwo master navigator Ali Haleyalur. (E. METZGAR)
COLONIA, Yap—The Yap Visitors Bureau has announced that a canoe summit will be held on Dec. 7, 2017, in Colonia, Yap prior to the annual canoe festival scheduled for Dec. 8 and 9.
Pwo master navigator Ali Haleyalur will moderate the conference that will be sponsored by the Yap Visitors Bureau, Yap Traditional Navigation Society, and Waa’gey (Seafaring Future) of Yap.
According to Micronesian scholar and filmmaker Dr. Eric Metzgar, organizer of the summit, the one-day conference “will provide the opportunity to discuss issues involved with the safeguarding of seafaring traditions as shared heritage in the region.”
The conference will be held at the Small Business Development Center in Colonia and will consist of activity reports by practitioners in the region and research reports by experts in the field of canoe culture in the Pacific.
Following the canoe summit, the annual canoe festival will take place at the Yap Living History Museum in Colonia and will include a parade of traditional sailing canoes, dances, skills demonstrations, and a marketplace offering food and handicrafts for sale.
Metzgar will provide the keynote address and present his video, A Voyaging Odyssey, featuring highlights from the 2010 ocean voyages captained by pwo master navigator Ali Haleyalur and master canoe carver chief Bruno Tharngan.
The ocean crossings “rediscovered” the ancient, traditional sea routes between the islands of Lamotrek, Guam, Yap, and Palau.
A photographic exhibit of Yap’s seafaring history along with other exhibits will be on display and visitors will have the rare opportunity to taste the traditional offertory, voyaging, and celebratory foods connected with successful long sea voyages.
For more information, visit www.visityap.com or email Tom Tamangmow at the Yap Visitors Bureau at tomyvb@mail.fm or by phone at (691) 350-2298. (PR)
