Oh, he sails! I learned this weekend that, in the islands, canoes are male. That is a difficult transition.

I guess I'll tell the tale in reverse. Yesterday I went down to the canoe at 1:00. When I got there you could feel the celebration in the air. There were several Micronesians there that I had not met before, talking and laughing among themselves. We were introduced. The Micronesians were Mark, Santos, Ken, Laurenti, Mike, Brandon, as well as Diego and Manny, the two that had done the lion share of the work on the boat. Santos was wearing a number of palm frond decorations and appeared to be some sort of shaman. He sang some songs that were taken respectfully by the others and some that made everyone laugh. Mark was conscious of our inability to understand their speech and made efforts to explain, in general terms, what was going on. He wanted us to know they were not talking about the haolies.

On the ground in the middle of the group was a circle of stones representing the guide stars. Manny had been giving a navigation lesson when I arrived. He explained some of the process to me. The navigator memorizes the names and locations of the guide stars. Each island has its own guide star. Thus, when the stars first come out he takes a position and steers the canoe toward the proper star. as the star rises higher in the sky he watches for the opposite guide star to move down into a position to allow for him to continue on his course. He sits in the boat at right angles to the boat's direction so he can keep an eye out for both stars. If clouds obscure part of the sky then he can do the same using other stars and maintaining the correct angles in relation to the boat.

The north star is easy to work with because it never changes locations. The other guide stars have names modified by where they are in the sky, generally two names, one when it rises and one when it is too high to be used any more. The Southern Cross, or the Triggerfish as they call it, has several names as it moves through it's circle depending on where it is in the sky.

During the day the navigator uses the sun, carefully keeping track in his head where it rose and the angles as it swings through the sky.

As they sail the navigator will watch the sea for changes, looking for familiar shoals or wave pattern changes that marks the location of an island. He is constantly aware of the "feel" of the boat. If it changes then he knows they have crossed into another area and may be near their destination.

When Manny talked the others kept respectful silence. You could tell he was an important person. He was the focus of the Micronesian group. I sat there amazed and marveling at what I was seeing.

The time came to move the boat into the water. They laid out palm fronds to slide the boat over. The fronds were cut so that the thick base of the frond was placed at right angles to the boat length and the leafy parts were placed in line with the direction of travel. The boat was heavy! We had at least 10 people pulling and pushing. Mark sang a work song to keep everyone going and the rest had a response for his pauses. I HAVE to record that song!!! I don't know what he was saying but I know it was effective.

We had to move the boat, his name is Quest by the way, about 50 yards down to the ramp. We pulled, and heaved and pushed and finally, he was afloat! Shell horns and clappers were sounding, people applauded, the guys splashed water on Quest and shook hands. Ken was splashing and making a booming sound as he moved his hand through the water. He showed me how to do it.

Once he was in the water we checked for leaks. Sure enough there were a few but they were minor. Manny, Santos and Ken began to rig the mast and then they carried the sail down and began to rig that as well. As they worked I stood thigh deep in the water holding on to Quest as the wake from passing powerboats tried to push him ashore. Finally they were ready. Manny, Santos, Brandon, Paul, and Mark took up paddles and began to head out beyond the reef.

Once more the shell horn and clappers sounded as we followed them down the shore and out to the end of the breakwater. They paddled mightily working slowly out the mouth of the harbor. The waves were running about three feet high and the Quest bobbed over them causing some of the paddlers to miss their stroke. Farther our they accepted a tow from a small outboard. Once the were out a ways they dropped the tow and began to work on getting the sail up. It took them a while. We thought they were having trouble. I was down to my last picture and my extra roll of film was back at the launch site. Finally the sail went up. They still were having some kind of trouble but shortly they took off heading north up the coast, the crab claw sail drawing well and the Quest moving quickly.

We went back to the launch site, happy and excited, to wait for their return. We talked, ate, drank, and generally glowed with happiness and pride at the success. It was a great day.

Quest returned after a couple of hours and Mark took over. Manny came ashore. Mark loaded some passengers, Sandy and Wakana, and another crew and they headed out. This time they tacked out, sailing up near the rocks and then changing the sail rig and sailing off to the other breakwater. It was slow and it took some time but it was a skillful operation. They too were gone for a while and we sat and talked and ate and drank. The fishermen were coming home after a day at sea and Frank knew quite a few of them. One boat slowed and circled calling out to us. Frank and Larry and Manny ran over to see what was about. Earlier in the day Gordon and Larry had met these guys in the grocery store and invited them to join us but they were headed out for some fishing. Larry had laughed and asked them to bring some fish. Now they were delivering. Manny waded out and they threw him a plastic bag with two large sweetlips in it. One went right on the fire and the other went into a cooler.

Once more the Quest returned. The Ohana canoe club was finishing up a practice run. They race 30 foot paddle driven fiberglass outrigger canoes with half a dozen paddlers in each one. They were bringing their boats in so we had to wait. Finally we dragged the Quest up out of the water and settled him in his old canoe hut, or rather between the post that are all that's left of the hut. We cleaned up our site and I went home, exhausted, sore, sunburned, and very, very, happy.