Okeanos Marianas to represent NMI at Yap Summit

COLONIA, YAP—Workmen are preparing for the upcoming 8th Annual Yap Canoe Festival as they perform routine maintenance on the roofs of the traditional buildings at the Yap Living History Museum in Colonia. The festival will be held at the museum on Dec. 8-9 and will include traditional dances, local foods, a marketplace, demonstrations, special guests and many other activities. For more information, visit www.visityap.com. (Contributed Photo)

For the first time in eight years, the CNMI will be represented at the annual Yap Canoe Festival at the Yap Living History Museum in Colonia.

The Okeanos Marianas will represent the Commonwealth in this year’s event, according to Okeanos Sustainable Sea Transport LTD. managing director Emma Perez.

Although there have been a few Commonwealth individuals who have attended the summit in the past, this will be the first year that a CNMI canoe will join the festival, and this will be the first year a crew from Saipan will sail to the summit, she said.

Pete Perez, executive director of 500 Sails, which runs the Okeanos Marianas, will be presenting at the 8th Yap Canoe Summit on the topic, “Beyond Restoration: Building a Future on Ancient Foundations” on Dec. 7.

As an alternative to air travel and to take the opportunity to make the sail to Yap, the Okeanos Marianas will be taking him to represent the growing family of canoes in the CNMI.

The Yap Canoe Summit & Festival will take place on Dec. 7, 8, and 9. “The Pacific-wide revival of oceangoing traditional canoes continues to grow as knowledge is shared and more and more canoes take to the ocean,” said Perez.

According to Perez, he was also invited to speak at the summit last year but was unable to go due to flight issues so Perez thought it would be a wonderful idea that the Okeanos Marianas will take him and the crew to this year’s summit.

Perez estimates it would take approximately six days to travel from Saipan to Yap.

Joining Pete Perez and his staff, Jason Aldan and Michael Finey, for the voyage is master navigator Sesario Sewralur, son of grand master navigator Mau Piailug, Steve Tawake, India Tabellini, Andrea Carr, and Leo Pangelinan.

Sewralur will also be presenting at the Canoe Summit, representing the Micronesian Voyaging Society.

Tawake of Fiji will be using traditional navigation under Sesario’s tutelage, Tabellini of Tahiti will be serving as watch captain, Carr will serve as watch captain, Pangelinan will be training as crew; and Perez, Aldan, and Finey, will all be getting to experience and learn open ocean sailing in preparation for taking out the 500 Sails canoes that will be in the waters early next year.

Okeanos Marianas will soon be registered as a commercial vessel here in the CNMI. The Okeanos Foundation supports its operation for the purpose of transporting people and cargo between Saipan and neighboring islands in the Northern Marianas.

The Okeanos Foundation for the Sea is dedicated to facilitating sustainable, fossil fuel-free sea transportation by building traditional Polynesian canoes or vaka motus, and applying modern materials to traditional boat-building techniques.

Okeanos’ vaka motus are internationally certified for open ocean commercial use and equipped with solar panels and coconut oil engines. Okeanos Foundations help to establish local, community-led businesses that generate revenue for their communities while restoring indigenous maritime traditions.