here - Polynesian Catamaran Association

LA P ITA VO YA G Egot:1chance to nleetand study the Iocalcanoes. one of their l'nain ailus of thisvoyage.Theotherail'nNvasto discoverhow'Talma M oana design saiIs in allsorts ofdifferentconditionsand thisstretch 0fthevol'age gave thenl severalstlperb sailingtestopporttlnities.Frol'n Jay'aptlra 'Anuta' sailed direct toW eu'klk' in Papua New Guinea ( .-)1ChristnaasDay.B/ewak wasthe tirstNewGuineaport.Everybodyhoped totind nicersurrotlndingsandsonaepeaceforarestbut,with Iarge waqres rolling on the shore,landing wasdiftictllt.Also the locals toldthateverybody had to be very carefulwithsecurity asanotheryachthad had 'Rascals'colmeaboardto rob them .Atthistin-1e(B iak to W evs'ak)there svas5crew'on each boatandt'wo 'wereto Ieavetotraveloverland.Attirsttheresveregoing tobe Eveand Philip btlt,then,Rudy becalueil1 'with :1 serious 1eg infection andsepticaenlia frol'n justa tiny scratch.Heneeded daiI)'antibiotic injections tbr 10dal'satahospital..1al-nes'wasalsosufferingfroln exhaustion and needed a break'froluthe contintlotlssai1ing reg.ilme.So the t'woofthel'n gottlightsto Rabaulto a'waitthe'Anuta'arrival.A rotlteto Rabatlwasplanned viasonae ofthe sm al1er islands i1-1 the B isnlarkArchipelago. The tirst one w'as KarkarIsland.S olue infon-nation frol'n ChrisB oneofOceanu'atch told thatthere n'ere lnanycanoes here.Chris haq'e also given somenames ofthe locals who were f'riends ofh in'l.svith little detail01-the island on the onboardsmallscale chart.the Anuta's crewhad to explore a stlitable anchoragehim self. The two boats. 'Lapita Tikopia'and 'Lapita Antlta',arrived together and'Anuta'saiIed into the bay in frontofthevillage nalned by Chris Bone.There werewaqring people on the shore-howeverthisbay appeared too deep for anchoring,particularly in an onshore N W w'ind.So'Anuta' tacked out again, lmeantin'le'Tikopia' explored the next bay to theNorth.Nvhich had Imore stlrrounding reefand itss'as found there shallow waterandhelptklpeople.The creu's joined thel'nthereand nlanaged to lind aslnallpatch of' Ir 1k 'd . ' rg.f 'x . ;,.k.x. .,- ./.. $. jstïs., .. .-e.-' ị . - .' ./ . îj.1k:kyJ iv g##'l ,,. ,. /1; '. ktk#' ..-- .. - kx - . .( .. - -ex -> ..K' .' j .% vj .-. '>' .- z 'Y . 2 'Ci - V 7.>. . p . x r,-.-- ;,. . -ṿ- - ( 4 .W ' î W...ï@ .we'l.. . t.im .' .t.. s:l $ K.black sand amongstthe coralto place theanchors in. Imm ediately the boats weresurrounded by canoes and m any friendlypeople.W ithout Jalmes, Hanneke took everyopportunity to photograph and sketch thecanoes and ask questions. Generally ittakes one ortwo weeks to nnake a snaall'dugotlt'outriggercanoe.depending onthesk i1lofthe builder.The canoes in KarkarNvere fortishing and were fairly shortandfat, but 1-1:11).'were painted nicely Nvithpatterns ol-lthe sides.They a1l had tqvoupright notched sticks on which fishingspearscould belaid,which were decoratedat the top svith either t'ish, birds ordolphins.Hanneke wastold by an olderman calledJohn thatup to the l970sthere wasatradeby sailing canoes from the m ainland atM adang to Karkar, bringing potteo, inexchangeforfood produce.Thistradew'asapparently stopped by the governm entbecause itwas claim ed to be 'unsatk'.i.e.canoessom etimesgotlost.Nowadaysm osttransport in New'Gtlinea is by 'bananaboat',a long narrow fibreglass speedboatwith large outboardmotors.Afker one day visiting the people on theisland itw astimeto sailon.Thatmorningthewind sprang up early,quite strong,anditwas in haste thatthe Ieaving was made,asthe NW wind isdirectly onshore in thisbay.Sailing outofa situation like this iscalled, in sailing tenms, 'clawing off 1eeshore'sso thiswasgoing to beatestiftheboatscould do it.Thecrew hoisted sailandgotready to raise the anchor.'Antlta'wasqtlite close inshore,so Hanneketold to hercrew thatthey only had one chanceto getthis right(orthe boatwould be on rockyshore).Itwas importantto getoffon theSketches ofMelanesiancanoes as they comesurrounding the boatateach arrival.The seaPeople* * issue74 1 V