Atomic canoes
They may be an incidental footnote in the fiery development of the atomic age, but Marshall Islanders still embrace a mode of transport dating back centuries.
Their homes were flattened by atomic bombs, but Marshall Islanders still embrace an ancient mode of transport.
Situated in the tropical northern hemisphere 2,500 nautical miles from New Zealand, the Marshall Islands comprise more than 1,220 islands grouped into 29 coral atolls, plus five single ocean islands.
The total land area is only 180km2, yet the overall footprint is nearly two million square kilometres. Before I sailed there, the only thing I knew about these islands was that one of them was called Bikini and that in peacetime the Americans had nuked the hell out of it, making it unfit for human habitation.
We watched a documentary of the exodus from Bikini Atoll prior to the bombing in 1946. One of the most poignant moments was of a sailing canoe being loaded onto the ship that took the Bikini Islanders away from their home.
For over 2,000 years the outrigger canoe has been a vital part of Marshallese life and culture. Built for transportation, fishing and food gathering, the outrigger was the key to survival in the Marshall Islands.
Historically the canoes were constructed entirely from locally available materials. The hull and outrigger were made from the breadfruit tree, lashings were made from coconut cordage and the sails from woven pandanus. Other trees were used for other parts of the canoe.
Today the canoes are still built to the traditional design, but a combination of traditional and modern materials are used. Plywood is common for the hulls. Sails may be cut from tarpaulins, tent canvas or old sails contributed by visiting yachts. The mainsheet, stays and lashings may also be recycled or donated items. An old mooring line from our boat is now the mainsheet on a Marshall Islands canoe.
In mid-december we cleared into Majuro, the capital of the Marshall Islands. After restocking the boat, collecting mail and spending Christmas with three other boats we left to begin our cruise of the outer islands.
We spent a week at Aur Atoll and two weeks at Maloelap Atoll. Winter in these latitudes is the time of north-easterly trades of 20-25 knots. Every 10 days or so the wind veers and lightens for a day and we waited for this to happen before our overnight sail from Maloelap to Ailuk.
Traditionally there are three types of outrigger canoes in the Marshall Islands: the walap, a sailing canoe up to 30m long, built for travelling in the open sea; the
tipnol, a mid-sized sailing canoe built for speedy transportation and fishing in the
I’ll jjust head upp into the w wind a bit and ggive these ribell e (foreigners) a good soaki ng.
lagoon or open sea; and the korker, a small sailing or paddling canoe built for fishing and travelling in the lagoon.
Within these three types, different designs in the bottom profile of the main hull influence the canoe’s cargo carrying capacity and its speed. It was the tipnol that we were to become familiar with at Ailuk.
We spent five days anchored off the main island of Ailuk Ailuk at the southern end of the atoll. A gently curving beach fringed by a shallow reef extends along the lagoon edge of the island. Pulled up on the beach, or further up under the coconut palms, we got our first glimpse of the Marshall Islands sailing canoes.
They looked a bit shabby, in need of a coat of paint, but despite that they looked hard working and dependable. Every morning we watched the canoes leave the beach and rip away up the atoll. In the evening the canoes would return weighted down with copra, reef fish, octopi and firewood.
The islands of Ailuk lie along the eastern side of the atoll in a north-south direction. In the north is the small village of Enejelar and 14 nautical miles away in the south is Ailuk Ailuk. In between lie 40 uninhabited islands.
Although the canoes, the fastest indigenous watercraft in the Pacific, can sail closer to the wind than most modern sailing vessels, the prevailing north-easterly winds make perfect conditions for reaching between the islands.
We were invited to go sailing with Emai and his teenage son Mile. First the canoe was lifted down the beach into the water. Next it was rigged. The mast was already in place and the boom with its furled sail was set in the tack socket. Then the rudder was attached and the sail was unfurled. We jumped aboard the platform and we were off.
Emai sat at the stern with his hand on the upright stub of tiller. Mile stood in front of him, controlling the main sheet. They chatted constantly to each other in Marshallese. I wondered if Emai was giving instructions like, “Ease the sheet a little”, or if he was saying, “When are you going to invite your girlfriend, over for dinner?” Of course Emai might have been saying, “I’ll just head up into the wind a bit and
give these ribelle (foreigners) a good soaking.”
The canoe bolted along at 12 knots. Spray flew off the bow, we were drenched. But who cares when the water is 30 degrees. The wake boiled white behind us and the islands seemed to whizz past. It was comfortable sitting on the platform but I very much wanted to have a go on the tiller.
CONTROL
The Marshallese evolved the speed of their canoes with two significant innovations. First the main hull is always kept to leeward and the outrigger to windward. The crew becomes moveable ballast, depending on the wind strength.
Keeping the main hull to leeward is possible because when the canoe is tacked, the mast and tiller are moved to the other end of the canoe.
Tacking is performed best by three sailors in a coordinated movement of the mast, the sail, the stay and the sheet. In less than a minute the stern has become the bow and the canoe is accelerating away. With just Emai and Mile, it took a little longer. We kept out of their way and observed the father and son teamwork. The children learn at a young age to sail the canoes, a skill passed down for generations.
The second innovation, because of the reversible ends, is an asymmetrical main hull. The windward side is rounded while the leeward side is flattened. When the canoe is moving forward the leeward side creates lift, pulling the canoe up to windward. This reduces the need for a deep keel, centerboard or leeboards and so is ideal for skimming over the lagoon reefs.
A few days later we moved up the atoll to one of the uninhabited islands. The long Christmas holiday was over and the families were returning home from Ailuk Ailuk to Enejelar. The people laughed and waved as they scooted past. What a way to travel! We recognised their exuberance, for sailing on the Ailuk canoe was the highlight of our three months in the Marshall Islands.
So what happened to the Bikini Island canoe? In 1948 after two and a half years and two previous attempts at resettlement the Bikini Islanders were deposited on Kili Island. Kili is not an atoll, only a single island in the ocean surrounded for most of the year by large waves. The Bikini Islanders’ traditional lifestyle based on the sailing canoe was lost forever. BNZ