Strange Trimaran in Madang, PNG

I've had the pleasure of being able to go out with one of my buddies here in Madang, fishing on his motorboat. Went out Friday afternoon and saw this boat out there. I didn't have my camera with me so couldn't take any pictures of it. Went out fishing again today and brought my camera. I've never really seen anything like this. Not that I'm mister experience when it comes to anything on the sea. In fact, quite the opposite. Maybe this kind of thing is really common and I'm just too ignorant to have ever noticed. What is it?

It has two amas. The amas are made of bamboo lashed together. It looks as if there is actually a lower ama (see picture) and an upper ama. The lower one looks like just a single piece of bamboo maybe. It's suspended below the much beefier main ama. I would guess that this is so that the main ama isn't always creating so much drag in the water; the lower, simpler ama giving just a touch of stability to the ship until it needs more. Not sure though. Note too the curvature of the ama. Though not as easily visible on the other side, they both have about the same curvature built in.

Then on the iakos (they're huge!) are stored a bunch of these little wooden boats. Even these little wooden boats are a style that looks different than anything I've ever seen before.

This boat just sticks out as different... and it's an outrigger (though not a sailing boat) and so I thought I'd post some pix here and see if anyone has ever seen or knows about anything like this? What is the purpose of this boat with all it's little boats?

The other picture was just a nice shot I got of some kids out on the family dugout.

Just a few more days until we go back into the bush. We've been out way too long. As well as looking forward to seeing my friends and talking about some exciting things regarding the church in Mibu, I'm looking forward to getting some little bits of time here and there to work on Shan Skailyn.

Paddles from the best... I think

Recently when we were in Wewak, in the Sepik region, I was able to find out that if you want a paddle made, the best people by far to have make them are the Iwam people. They're river dwellers and seem to be well known for their skills on the water... and for their paddle making. An expat friend of mine happened to have a paddle (see pic) made by the Iwam and I was impressed with it's light weight and strength. So I decided that rather than making the paddles myself, maybe I'd try to see if we couldn't find someone from the Iwam who would be willing to do the job for me. My expat friend made the arrangements sometime after we left. I wasn't able to make the arrangements myself because these folks don't make it out to town often. It's mere chance that you see someone from that area. As it happens, the day after me and my family flew to Madang, my friend saw someone he knew from Iwam. He agreed on a fair price for the paddles and will make them and bring them to Wewak sometime.
So sometime in the near future (maybe next few months) I should be the proud owner of 4 paddles for Shan Skailyn that look a bit like the one in the picture. One difference I was told about is that they typically make the end of the blade taper out with a longer (but still flattened) point. The paddle in this pic was modified by it's current owner. I might modify it a bit too maybe by wrapping the ends of the blades with fiberglass to keep from splitting, and then putting 4-5 coats of varnish on them.

No sails yet

Well our little excursion to the beach for swimming on Sunday produced very little in the way of outriggers. I did manage to make it over to the village that was right near where we were swimming. However it seemed that everyone was out on their canoes already. I wandered around the beach a bit and did manage to find a couple outriggers, but no owner. Everyone was gone.
I'm starting to think that my chances of getting a good look at a traditional sailing outrigger here in Wewak are pretty slim at this point. The workshop has us pretty busy. I do spot many a sailor from afar though, from where we're staying. We have a nice view of the ocean from up on the hillside. The silhouetted figure in the small picture is about all I can capture with my telephoto lens. Oh well. Maybe this weekend.

Wishful Thinking in Wewak

My family recently had to travel to the town of Wewak, in the Sepik region of Papua New Guinea) for a translation workshop. I've been so busy with the workshop, going Monday through Saturday for two weeks, that I've not really had a chance to go to the beach or any villages to check things out. I'm really interested in looking at their different outrigger canoes. And get this... many of them have sails here! I would like to see the different ways they rig theirs and maybe make myself a wontok (friend) who wants to take me out on a ride with him. But for now, I'm constrained, due to the busy-ness of the translation workshop, to just enjoying the ocean view from the hillside that we're located on.

I've seen some traditional outriggers out there and it looks like the majority of them are using polytarp for their sail material. But it's just far enough away that I can't really see details, even with binoculars. I also saw this painting in one of our offices, done by a local artist named Nanias Maira. The painting depicts the look of the local sailing outriggers.

We're planning a time to go to the beach this Sunday morning. I've heard there's a nearby village to where we're going that has a bunch of canoes. Maybe that will be my chance to check some out and get some pix... and maybe... just maybe catch me a little ride.

Standing by...

You may have noticed that I've not posted anything for a couple weeks here. We recently left our bush location for some language and translation workshops in town. Won't be back into Mibu for another 4 weeks still. Meanwhile, all of Shan Skailyn's materials simply wait.
I did, however, manage to finish one of the drawings of what her paint job may eventually look like. I'm going to buy the needed paint while we're out here.
BTW, the outline is scanned from Gary Dierking's book and photoshopped. I then printed it and then colored it in by hand.

Shan_Skailyn_paint_job_possibilities2.png

The attached file was originally sent with another message.

File Name: Shan_Skailyn_paint_job_possibilities2.png

Doodlin'

(Sorry, this might be a bit confusing, but the picture that was the last post and the text from this post were both supposed to be ONE post! Our email system does that to me sometimes. Wreaks all kinds of havoc. So here's the text that should have come with the picture.)

Over the last few nights, while my wife, Shannon, and I were watching some pre-recorded episodes of Criminal Minds (that's what we do in the evenings here in the bush!), I was doodling away at some design possibilities for Shan Skailyn's eventual paint job. All three incorporate a design that is used as a primary element, in one variation or another, in just about all the Mibu people's carvings. Since I live and work with these folks and feel a part of the community in many ways, I wanted to include artistic features unique to their identity. So here are my sketched out ideas. I'm thinking of just staining and varnishing the gunwale a dark color. One of my friends here, Lookas, is going to carve the pattern (very light relief carving) of the design seen on the lower of the two pictures here all along the gunwale. I'll then stain the whole thing, do a whitewash to fill the carving with some white for contrast and then varnish over the whole thing... the gunwale, that is.

I'm open to any comments as to what paint design appeals the most? My personal favorite so far is the bottom one. It's possible I could get some other ideas before actually painting Shan Skailyn since that time is obviously a long way off. But for now, the bottom one seems the best to me.