Vaka Taumako Project
Special News Updates 2005        

— Update, Added 05/23/05

Yacht Gryphon to sail to Temotu

Aloha to all our friends and supporters:

Nawiliwili small boat harbor hums (whirrs, buzzes, or even swears) with activity as Mimi, Rik, and Lori ready themselves and Gryphon to set sail southward. Hoping to depart on 24 May, the crew is working hard at cleaning, rigging, and laying in supplies for six or seven weeks at sea.

Gryphon's ultimate destination is Cairns, Australia. En route, she will stop in Temotu Province, where Mimi will leave, and another captain, Mark Mothersdill, will take over as skipper for the rest of the voyage. Rik, Gryphon's new owner, intends to berth her in Cairns while he returns to his work in an Aboriginal community near Cape York.

Mimi hopes to arrive in Temotu in early July. If possible, she will spend several weeks on Taumako.

In late July, Stephanie Guyer-Stevens and Carlos Tejada of the Outer Voices Project, which has received a grant from The Ford Foundation to conduct radio interviews with female canoe sailors and navigators in the Polynesian outliers of Temotu, will join Mimi. Heph will escort them.

Some of our supporters know Stephanie as producer of "The Hula Lesson", a 52 minute radio broadcast that she created from recordings of Roselle Bailey and members of Ka `Imi Na`auao o Hawai'i Nei. Those who have listened to this program have been impressed with Stephanie's ability to edit approximately 20 hours of raw tape into something coherent and informative. We are delighted that she wants to record the voices of female voyagers. Her work promises to be a valuable addition to research on this topic, one that has received far less scholarly attention than it deserves.

If you would like to learn more about the Outer Voices Project, its website is:  www.outervoices.org

If you are on Kaua'i, drop by the small boat harbor, and wish the Gryphon crew bon voyage. For more details of their voyage and goals, see below:

VAKA TAUMAKO PROJECT GOALS: MAY-AUGUST 2005

1. Prepare Gryphon for sailing to and future use in the South Pacific Renew VTP permits in the Solomon Islands
2. Complete passport applications and renewals for a crew to go to Hawai`i to finish and sail the tealolili begun on Kaua`i in 1999 If the VTP receives funds, the crew could travel in 2006.
3. Convey a SSB radio and solar enemy system to Kahula on Taumako
4. Carry copies of the 2002 ZDF (German Public Television) video to Taumako, Lata, Honiara
5. Distribute copies of photos taken in 2002 on Taumako
6. Convey tealolili outrigger parts from Taumako to Honiara for shipment to Kaua`i. This will make it possible to finish the canoe that Chief Kaveia and his crew began building in 1999.
7. Take Stephanie and Carlos to Temotu to interview female sailors and navigators of voyaging canoes
8. Investigate possibilities for use of Gryphon in Temotu in support of VTP goals
9. Discussion by Mimi and Kaveia of the planned article on the "wind compass"
10. Convey new cordage from Minevi village to Kahula for relashing of 3 vaka in halevaka
11. Sail a tealolili from Taumako to Pileni, conditions permitting

Map of the Pacific showing the course of Gryphon.

This Map will be updated, based on radio reports enroute.
May 23, 2005 - Gryphon docked in Nawilwili Harbor, Kaua'i, Hawai'i
May 30, 2005 - Gryphon departs.

Solomon Islands

June 27, 2005 - Gryphon arrives in Santa Cruz Islands!
Mimi reports a good trip (more details when I find out more...).
Mahalo to all our supporters who helped make this a successful cruise!