The Royal Institute of Navigation and Pacific Traditions Society, with the support of Royal Museums Greenwich, invite you to join us for an afternoon immersed in the ancient cultural knowledge of traditional Pacific interisland voyagers and navigators.
Traditional Pacific island vessels rely on wind power and are made of locally harvested plants. The proa rig and high performance sails are more efficient and maintainable than any other. The technology used is effective, non-toxic and sustainable. Navigation
between distant islands uses ancestral systems, handed down between generations.
This event offers an amazing opportunity to hear from traditionalist Pacific voyaging leaders and navigators, Pacific navigation experts and the Pacific Traditions Society.
There is a small charge of £15 to register for this event. A small portion of this will cover the costs of the tea and coffee break, with the remainder of the proceeds going to the Vaka Taumako Project as a donation. Registration is now available via
the button above.
We look forward to seeing you at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich.
Heu’ionalani “Meph” Wyeth
Lolobeyong Rogopes Benito
Mario Benito
Mario Benito is a member of the Houpolowat clan, and its canoehouse, Utt Wenimai. He also belongs to Utt Wenipukuw. Benito was educated in the Weriyeng school of navigation and studied under some revered navigators from Polowat, including Hipour and
Manipy Onopey., Teo Onopey and Rainam Edward. Benito was lead photographer for the documentary “Sacred Vessels: Navigating Tradition and Identity in Micronesia” (1997). Benito serves as an informal ambassador of Polowat seafarers in Saipan, and
was a coordinator and translator in building and sailing Lien Polowat to Guam in 2013. In 2016 Benito was ordained as Pwo Navigator.
Marianne “Mimi” George
Marianne “Mimi” George, Ph.D, is a cultural anthropologist and sailor who supports training youth to apply ancestral voyaging knowledge to current problems, including unemployment, biodiversity loss and climate change. Mimi responded to requests to
help document voyaging traditions of Austronesian people of New Ireland Province, Papua New Guinea; a small, a mixed-gender crew wintering a sailboat in Antarctic sea-ice: networks of sea-hunters and reindeer herders across Bering Straits, and
Polynesian people of Taumako, SE Solomon Islands Mimi describes roles of women and children in voyaging cultures, and how ancient navigation methods are holistic expressions of ancient knowledge systems.
Sanakoli John
Mr. Sanakoli John is co-founder of Pasana Group, Papua New Guinea's first traditional canoe building school. Sanakoli was born into the Dove clan of Basilaki Island in Milne Bay, Papua New Guinea. Like most children on Basilaki, he traveled in traditional
sailing canoes, known locally as Sailau, as soon as he could walk. The Sailau is used for fishing, transport, and traditional Kula trad that connects the outer islands of Milne Bay. In 2017, Sanakoli and two crew completed the first recorded circumnavigation
of the island of New Guinea in a traditional sailing canoe - a voyage that spanned 6,300kms.
Setareki Ledua
As a child Setareki lived with his grand parents on Fulaga Island in the Lau Group of Fiji. We sailed on Camakau vessels, fishing, gathering seafoods, and visiting their partners on other islands. In 2010 he began studying both modern and traditional
maritime navigation. His Masters in Engineering is from the Maritime School. He captained the Sailing Vessel Moana, and then the sailing catamaran Uto Ni Yalo. From 2018 to present he Captains the Drua, I Vola Sigavou. His father rigged the Drua
at Humboldt Forum museum. He strives to see 100 Drua serving remote Fijian communities.
Delsie Betty Bosi
Delsie Betty Bosi is a teacher striving to save marine and land resources from rapid depletion done by logging, mining, over-harvesting, and poor decision making by community leaders. Bosi left her teaching career to work with women and youth in the
community, because they are the people most responsible to build a society of people who care for the land and the sea. These people are voiceless, yet when they know what they want, they stand up against the odds, build vessels and navigate their
community and inter-island networks toward more sustainable practices and greater protection of ocean resources.
Heu’ionalani “Meph” Wyeth
Heu’ionalani “Meph” Wyeth served as Permanent Secretary of the Vaka Taumako Project of Pacific Traditions Society since 1996 (www.vaka.org ). She instructed the first groups of Taumako video students, most of whom had never seen a camera before. Wyeth
writes articles, gives presentations, and protects archival materials until there is adequate accommodation at Taumako. As a Director of Ka’imi Na’auao o Hawai’i Nei Institute (www.kaimi.org) which preserves and teaches Hawaiian culture, and in
the Vaka Taumako Project ,Wyeth is much concerned with the ancient Story of Lata, the first voyager. Wyeth is one of a large family of sailors.
Lolobeyong Rogopes Benito
"Lolobeyong” means “the lucky one,” after a particular chant that his father uses before entering a gathering to imbue love and peace among the members to open their hearts and minds. During childhood on Saipan in Northern Marianas, Lolo watched his
father teach traditional navigation and carve paddles and canoes. Lolobeyong learned how to sail, tie canoe lashings, and use natural elements to advantage. Loloʻs goal is that his ancestral legacy remind people where they came from, be shared
with the rest of Micronesia, and that collectives of shared sailing and maritime traditions unite all Pacific Island peoples.
Luke Vaikawi
Luke Vaikawi, Executive Director of Holau Vaka Taumako Association, assisted his grandfather, Paramount Chief Koloso Kaveia and Mimi George, in establishing the Vaka Taumako Project, to train a new generation to build voyaging vessels and navigate
using only ancestral designs, materials, methods and tools. For 25 years Vaikawi commanded Solomon Islands Maritime Police and initiated international marine resource monitoring and safety programs of Solomon Islands. When at sea Vaikawi uses
ancestral leadership and navigation methods he learned from Kaveia. Vaikawi aims to grow sustainability and resiliency by reviving use of traditional valuables in intet-island, regional and interregional networks.
Hugo Spiers
Hugo Spiers is Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at University College London and a Fellow of the Royal Institute of Navigation. He has spent 25 years studying how the brain supports navigation. In recent research he was studied the navigation skill
of over 4 million people via a mobile video game (Sea Hero Quest) and measured the brains of London's licenced taxi drivers who navigate using their memory of London's 26K+ streets (The Knowledge). In upcoming research he will travel to the Marshall
Islands to explore traditional oceanic navigation.
Panel Chairs: Lars Eckstein and Anja Schwarz
Lars Eckstein and Anja Schwarz are based in Berlin, Germany. They are Professors of Anlgophone Literatures and Cultures, and of Cultural Studies respectively at the University of Potsdam. Over the past decade or so they conducted research on the Ra‘iātean tahu‘a Tupaia, who joined the crew of James Cook's Endeavour in Tahiti in 1769. Their research mainly focussed on Tupaia's Map, a chart Tupaia drew of the Polynesian sea of islands in collaboration with Cook and his officers. Reinvestigating all available archival resources and learning as much as they could about ancestral voyaging techniques, Lars and Anja could show that Tupaia's Map is the result of an elaborate translation from one highly sophisticated system of navigational worldmaking into a very different other. More recently, their focus shifted to a wind positioning system Tupaia shared with a British officer that bears striking resemblance to the navigational system taught by Paramount Chief Koloso Kavaia in Taumako.
