Chine bLog

It has been an exciting few weeks for anyone interested in the origins of boats and boating, as we are here at Chine bLog. It turns out that humans may have discovered the ways of the maritime life long before science generally believed. First, I read a great article in the next to last issue of Discover Magazine titled "Did Humans Colonize the World by Boat? Research suggests our ancestors traveled the oceans 70,000 years ago." You can imagine me sitting upright when I flipped to this piece. It follows the research of Jon Erlandson, an archaeologist with the University of Oregon, who has identified dart heads along the California coast dating to 12,000 years ago. They are similar to others found along the Northern Pacific Rim, the oldest being from 15,600 years ago in Japan. They seem designed for hunting marine prey. Erlandson is building a case that the earliest Americans arrived here by boat, hopping along the coast and kelp forests. Wow.

It gets better. Other research suggests older maritime migrations in Southeast Asia (30,000 years ago) and Australia (50,000 years ago). Early humans may have even crossed the Red Sea coming out of Africa 70,000 years ago. Much of the research also uses projected maps of ancient coastlines. It turns out that, even with lower sea levels during the Ice Age, there were several significant straits to navigate to get form Southeast Asia to Australia. We have known ancestors of the current Aborigines were there 50,000 years ago. It always struck me that they must have gotten there by boat - I mean could the sea levels really be so low? It turns out my naive intuition may not have been far off.

While still chewing on this delicious piece of research, I struck, literally days later, a posting by "aqlunafoo" in the Proa_File Yahoo! Group. It references additional research, reported on Science Daily, pointing to a dramatic reworking of Southeast Asian settlement. Scientists had thought humans migrated to Southeast Asian islands from Taiwan 4,000 years ago. DNA studies, however, indicate that Island Southeast Asia was populated 10,000 years earlier than this and that, in fact, migration into Taiwan from these islands may have been the case. "aqlunafoo" suggests the trimaran is the original boat that sailed to Taiwan, and the proa was developed somewhere between Taiwan, the Bismarks and Santa Cruz." Good stuff.

And there's more...

I came upon the site for the Hawaiian Sailing Canoe Association tonight. Mostly info about their race series, but they do have a nice photo gallery that is worth looking at. Looks like these boats absolutely fly - I need to try one.

Photo by Terry Galpin

Location: Hawaii, USA

Location: Majuro, Marshall Islands

The other night, I added a post about the return of proa racing to the Marshall Islands. Don't you know, then, that days later, we now have some video of the 2001 races. "aqlunafoo" added a post to the Proa-file yahoo group with four interesting videos. Many thanks!

Here are some race videos. As with much on YouTube, it is really a music video, with the ame footage repeated a few time. No matter, its well done and show the boats going through their paces. They look like a blast.

Here is another video, this of a bigger boat from the Marshalls. This looks like it might be a fishing boat, but it is clear it is pretty fast. Another gem here.

We are going around the world tonight here at Chine bLog! Madagascar! Antigua! And now, drum-roll, please, the Marshall Islands! That's right: three oceans, three island nations, and, best of all, three traditional wooden sailing craft! Wooohoooo!

Our offering from the Marshalls (in the middle of the Pacific) is a recent article in Pacific Magazine about the return of sailing races in traditional 18-foot breadfruit tree-log “korkor” (canoes).

These are, in my humble opinion, some nice-looking proas. It is fantastic to hear news of these boats coming back as a class and of the regatta being a success. I hope these races spread and prosper. Somebody put the next round on YouTube so we can see these in action!

Location: Majuro, Marshall Islands

Here's a movie you Chine bLog readers should see: "Ten Canoes." The movie recounts an Australian Aboriginal myth, highlighting the culture and practices of the people of far Northern Australia in the process. It is another in the genre of movie that features actual members of an indigenous community in the area where the film is set. I happen to go for this type - these "untrained actors" always do an amazing job and, in this case as well as others, create a lovely tale.

Here is the bonus: as the title suggests, local traditional canoes, and the making of them, play a hefty "supporting actor" role. I clipped the image here from the movie site. They are bark canoes (the tree species is not identified). The builders basically cut around the circumference of the trunk at the bottom and then make another cut around it about 15 feet for so up the trunk. Apparently it has to be the right season so the bark is supple. They then cut a straight line down the trunk, thus allowing them to unroll a roughly 15 foot buy three foot sheet. As best I could tell, they then stitch the ends together, stitching two rows in the bow to create a flat surface. Somewhere in here they also some branches as athwartship "frames." Finally, they cut the bow shape out of the stitched end. Voila, a bark canoe, down-under style.

As I have mentioned before, I am always impressed to see how different boaters around the world design their craft...