On Sunday, we sailed 21nm downwind from Panasia Island to Nivani Island and anchored near the beach along with 13 yachts from the New Zealand Island Cruising Association who had been invited to join us here for customs clearance and the various activities.
Two days of fun was planned the highlight being the Panapompom Regatta for 40 sailaus. The festivities started with welcome speeches and a sing-sing followed by swimming and canoe races for all divisions.
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| Dim dims struggle to steer the canoes |
In the afternoon we headed off in the dinghy to watch the
sailaus race. We sat near the gybe mark and were amazed at the skills of the crews who race in 4 divisions based on size.
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| Largest sailaus |
Sailaus are double ended and tacking or gybing involves one crew member running along the edge of the sailau moving the tack of the sail from one end to the other. At the same time another crew member is racing the steering oar to the other end of the hull. The sail (usually made from a plastic tarp) is then pulled on and off they go. Warren was fascinated by these craft and took every opportunity on the trip to talk to the sailors about them.
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| On the edge |
Tuesday morning started with ‘Dim dim’s’ going for a
sailau ride. This gave us a much closer look at these skilful sailors.
Melissa from Honey Bee joins us on a smaller sailau sailed by Esties and his brother Hallandia. We paid K20 each ($10) and we give them some double braid rope for their sailau.
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| Thomas, Esties, Hallandia and Bendie with Warren |
After lunch, the rally yachts took out the sailau crews, relatives and any other locals for a fun race. Warren has never had so many people in the dinghy as on the last trip out when he said it was hard to leave anyone behind.
About 20 people enjoyed refreshments while we sailed around. After most had been returned to shore we spent more time with Esties and his father Bendie who had built the sailau.
We gave them more rope and cord and shirts, including my lime green V8 shirts which they seemed to like. The day ended with prize giving (Esties sailau came second in their division), an auction to raise money for the Paneati clinic and a delicious mumu.
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| Esties resplendent in lime green V8 shirt |
On Wednesday, we took a sailau trip to Panaeati - 6nm to the north. We
enjoyed the 1 hour trip there more than the 2 hour trip back into the wind - a very wet ride! Our crew, Joe took us on a tour of the island. First we visited the
primary school, grades 3-8, with desks and blackboards in orderly classrooms. Kids loved having their photo taken and looking at it on the camera.
Off for a
walk through the villages with many hellos, laughing children and smiling
adults. About 1000 people live here and it had a different feel to the smaller villages we later saw. This island is also where many of the sailaus are made and
we photographed Archie with his latest project.
Back at Nivani Island, we snorkeled on a Japanese Zero
fighter plane which is located about 50m off the beach.
Today we head to Moturina which is 30nm away.
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