Canoe culture revival cruises smoothly with 500 Sails

An intimate discussion of canoe culture closed the celebration of the Humanities Month, through a presentation on “Reviving and Promoting Canoe Culture” organized by the Northern Marianas Humanities Council last Oct. 30 at the American Memorial Park.

NMHC executive director Leo Pangelinan said the program helps revive some fading islander traditions.

“We live on an island surrounded by the ocean, yet, many people I know do not know how to swim, or there’s a fear of the ocean,” Pangelinan said.

He also lamented that the CNMI has moved from a society that is very much connected to the ocean and marine life, to one where no sailing canoes can be seen except for what 500 Sails has built.

In the presentation, 500 Sails executive director Pete Perez talked about working on building canoes on Saipan, and on having a comprehensive program on the islands for people to learn how to swim, build, and sail.

“The ocean is still the ocean, and the skies are the skies, and these canoes are made—they are the same size, the same shape, the same behavior—as they were in the 1500s,” Perez said, referring to the canoes that 500 Sails has already built. “If you have canoes out, people are going to sail them.”

So far, a total of 33,515 people throughout the islands have already been exposed to the many outreach events that 500 Sails has held in order to increase the community’s involvement in canoes and learn more about their maritime heritage, as well as 500 Sails’ programs to promote the canoeing culture.

“From 2016 to 2019, when it comes to canoe building, we have had 86 boat nights, with 61 participants, more than half (56%) are indigenous local people, and with over 610 volunteer hours (71% indigenous),” Perez said, adding that there could have been more had typhoons Soudelor and Yutu not hit the CNMI.

Perez also stressed the importance of teaching people to swim before they sail. Through 500 Sails, about 1,200 individuals have already learned how to swim.

Perez also disclosed that they are hoping to have the canoes used for transporting people to and from Managaha. “[This] is something that 500 Sails wanted to do from the beginning, to get local people with local canoes, taking tourists out and make an income from it,” he said.

Given 500 Sails’ accomplishments, Perez still wants more ideas on how they could get more people to sail.

“Eventually, I would have to hand this off to somebody,” Perez said. “Same with anyone, we are not going to be here forever, but we really want to take it as far as we possibly can. We want to hand off a very healthy program, and we want people to be able to swim, build, and sail…not just for cultural reasons but also for health.”