Sunday, March 8, 2009

Yap Day


The island came to a halt for the celebration of Yap Day on Sunday and Monday (and yes, Yap “Day” appears to be a misnomer). Yap Day is a cultural festival akin to a state fair, but with fewer bikers and giant turkey legs. Where there’s a fair, however, heat seems to follow, and refreshment is always welcome. We don’t have juice boxes here, but drinking fresh coconut water with a bendy straw is quite a treat.



Yap Day has lots of competitions, games, and traditional dancing. Many of the games are similar to what you’d find in the U.S., although with a distinct Yapese twist. Here’s our friend Rob, who made the mistake of volunteering for a game that he didn’t know anything about.

He felt bad once he realized he was going to have to pelt small Yapese boys with a hard ball made out of coconut husks, about the size and weight of a softball. It was similar to dodgeball, with the last boy standing declared the winner. The rest went home with nothing but bruises and a good story.


Other competitions included raft tying and spear throwing,



and there were plenty of other activities, including basket weaving, traditional dancing, and rides available in traditional outrigger canoes.


Our favorite activity was the canoe ride that we took courtesy of the Traditional Navigation Society, a group with whom we hope to volunteer down the road. Yapese sailors are famous for their daring and navigational skills. They ventured throughout this part of the world, quarrying stone money from Palau, fishing, and trading with islands throughout the western Pacific.


The traditional outrigger sailing canoes are really amazing. We had of course seen pictures in the past, but had never thought about how they worked. Lacking metal for nails and screws, traditional navigators lashed their vessels together with handmade ropes.


The outrigger is not, as Matt had always assumed, an aid in flotation, but is instead a counterweight (for the record, KC claims she knew that it was a counterweight all along). As such, it is always on the side opposite the sail. But because the outrigger is fixed on one side of the boat, this means that the sail and mast must be movable, to ensure that the sail can be in a position to catch the wind.

Outrigger sailing canoes thus lack an identifiable bow and stern. If the wind shifts or the boats needs to be taken in a new direction, the sail is moved from one end of the boat to the other, and the tiller likewise changes ends. As visible in this photo, the mast leans substantially to accommodate this shift. The sail supports its own weight in the front by resting on the end of the boat designated as the bow at that point in time. Although moving the sail is not an easy proposition (and likely puts the mast at risk in high
winds) it is an ingenious and effective setup for a number of reasons. For one, it eliminates the need for a daggerboard, which substantially reduces the depth of water needed for operation. This is important in Pacific lagoons – much of our brief sailing expedition was in water only 3 or 4 feet deep. The outrigger also makes the boat much more stable, although we still can’t imagine trying to sail one of these things in the open ocean.

The outrigger that we rode on recently made a trip to Palau and back – more than 250 miles of open ocean without the aid of engines or navigational equipment. We envision our involvement with the Traditional Navigation Society being in a slightly less adventurous role.

In other news, Matt had a conference with several government officials this week for work, and felt the need to break out his “dress” flip-flops for the occasion. The blue flops on the left are great for everyday wear, but just aren’t formal enough for big meetings. The more conservative flops on the right fit the bill nicely, and in any event went much better with the shorts that he chose for that day.











Matt also decided that it’s just too hot here for much hair, and went to the barber yesterday for a cut. Here’s the new look. Sunscreen on the scalp will be a necessity for the next couple of weeks.


Our house is supposedly going to be ready for move-in this coming week. We’ve taken a look around on a couple of occasions, and it looks quite nice inside. We’re looking forward to the move, partly because we’ll have the chance to set off a bug bomb before taking up occupancy, thus starting with a mostly insect-free household. We’ll be posting pictures of our move and the new house as soon as it comes available. In the meantime, we hope that everyone has a great week!

2 comments:

  1. love matt's new look. kc - have you thought about trying it yourself?

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  2. i love your profile. first time in here and found your profile kinda funny especially the cars...lol... am from yap but been away since 2000. love the pictures. keepem coming!!!

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