THE TRADITIONAL NINIGO CANOE
As Oscar sat with his left leg tucked under him
and his right leg swinging fore and aft at the
helmsman seat of Sea Mate, his new nine metre
Ninigo canoe skimming across the turquoise
lagoon, while holding the wide steering paddle
with a fist of his right hand, he beamed out his
warm gap-toothed smile and made a wide arc
with his left arm and boomed, “this is our life!”
Oscar’s wife, Keren, gave us a Mona Lisa smirk
and raised her left eyebrow ever so slightly, tucked
a few curly strands of hair behind her ears then
continued to lay out fishing line, enjoying her
husband’s joviality. Indeed, sailing has been the
life of the people here forever, or at least since
the great migration of Lapita
people across Oceania that began
thousands of years ago.
The Ninigo people love their
lagoon and they love to sail and
it shows in their smiles.
According to scholars, the
canted rectangular-boom lugsail,
single-outrigger canoe design of this tiny corner
of Oceania represents a blending of inf luences
from Micronesia and Indonesia. The single
asymmetric hull, constructed of planked sides set
onto a keel with an arma windward, are similar to
canoes we saw at the outer islands of Yap.
Also similar to the Micronesian tradition is
the practice of shunting the Ninigo canoe, which
is physically moving the mast and helmsman’s
station end-for-end when changing course.
From east Asia comes the sail design;
rectangular lugsails were characteristic ofthe proas of the Celebes Sea, though Ninigo
canoes above nine metres are often sailed as
ketches, with two masts carrying lugsail rigs.
Coincidentally, we saw evidence of rare fore and
aft decks on single-hulled outrigger canoes in
eastern Mindanao in the Philippines, an area
that shares the culture of nearby Indonesia.
Although the sailing canoes that have
been plying these waters since times BC have
inevitably evolved, the extremely efficient
current form of the Ninigo canoe may be a recent
phenomenon. No one knows for sure, as there is
no written history, but according to Kelly Lui all
of the important design elements common today
to the traditional Ninigo canoe were first realised
in a canoe named Hamanoman ('amazing' in
Seimat) about the time of colonisation of the
Ninigos in the late 19th century.
With a lineage stretching three generations
further back to chiefs who conquered the nearby
Hermit Islands, Kelly told us that his great-
grandfather, Saul built Hamanoman and that the
exact design remains a family secret. Indeed, the
Ninigo canoes of each clan vary in subtle ways
but because canoe racing is competitive to near
fanaticism, such wisdom is not shared.
It may seem odd at first that the Ninigo
people are passionate about racing their
canoes. But, as Oscar so enthusiastically stated,
the canoes are their life because without them
it is doubtful they would be able to continue to
thrive in their islands.
The canoes are made mostly from materials
collected in the jungle or salvaged from the sea,
though copper nails and 'canvas' for sails are
necessary and highly prized. The canoes are fast,“... BUT THE COLOURFUL AND GREEDY
WESTERN ENTREPRENEURS, MANY
WHO RULED LIKE KINGS, WERE ALL
SADLY SIMILAR.”
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Cruising Helmsman June 2017DESTINATION
SE ASIA