Members of the Yap Traditional Navigation Society (YTNS) met with Speaker Charles Chieng of the 8th congressional legislature of Yap this week to receive a donation to assist with the Societies seafaring school.  This donation, the first of its kind, comes at a critical moment as YTNS begins recruiting for new students to attend their Yap Traditional Maritime Institute (YTMI).

The Institute, founded August 2006, began as a collaborative Traditional Workforce Development Initiative with YTNS and the Department of Resource and Development through funding by the Asian Development Bank Private Sector Grant.  It is the belief of YTNS that traditional skills can be utilized as income development tools if properly taught, managed and promoted.  The Institute, now beginning its third year of operation, is dedicated to preserving the art and skill of building and sailing traditional canoes through education in an effort to benefit local communities, guests and the economic development endeavors of Yap State and the Federated States of Micronesia. 

The islands of Yap span over 100,000 square miles of ocean and conventionally, Yapese are expert fishermen and navigators; using traditional sailing canoes to travel large expanses of the Pacific Ocean.  In this new era of GPS, fiberglass boats and 200 horsepower motors traditional navigation techniques are quickly being forgotten.  It is the goal of YTNS to preserve this as it is one of Yap’s most important traditions.  Mau Piailug has been the forerunner of this movement by bringing the art of traditional Yapese navigating to the headlines with his historic voyage leading the Hokule’a Hawaiian sailing canoe across the Pacific Ocean, using time honored Yapese techniques.

Many who know of the world famous Hokule’a voyage are not aware that the navigator leading the voyage was from the outer island of Yap, Satawal.  The Islands of Yap continue to be the bulwark of Pacific traditions and culture and the efforts of the Traditional Navigation Society attest to this.

Related articles:

Traditional Navigation Institute Prepares for Voyage to Guam

Traditional Canoes To Palau and Back Again

Two Traditional Canoes Left Yap for Palau

Traditional Canoe Rides Gaining Popularity

Yap Traditional Navigation Society