MAYOTTE

I have recently been approached by a member of the University of Mayotte with the question whether I could make them a scale model of a typical "Malagasy" fishing canoe. The University of Mayotte is eagerly preparing for their Festival of Science, a significant event towards the end of the year, and they believe that a scale model of a typical 'Malagasy' fishing canoe would be a valuable addition to their exhibits.

Mayotte is a French territory situated south of the Comores Island and half way to Madagascar.

The malagasy canoes belong to the Austronesian type canoes like those from New Caledonia, Philippines, Madagascar and some from Indonesia.

A traditional Malagasy fishing canoe

CELEBRATING 30 YEARS OF BUILDING MODEL CANOES

HOW IT ALL STARTED. It was the year 1993. When moving to Hawaii from the UK, Francis Pimmel was surprised to notice that, with one or two exceptions, nobody was building scaled-down Polynesian canoes, the very symbols of Polynesian culture and seamanship. Francis's love for boats and ships, particularly catamarans and trimarans, dates back to his time in the French Forces near Brittany, where famous sailors like Eric Tabarly set sail to win many races. Being passionate about boats, Francis Pimmel was fascinated by the exploits of Hokule'a, a voyaging canoe built in 1974, which sailed to Tahiti and back in 1976 solely guided by the sun, stars, waves, and wind. And then, in September 1992, Francis was given a chance to go onboard Hokule'a, which was moored in Honolulu on Pier 38 then. By chance, Wright Bowman Jr., who established "The Friends of Hokule'a and Hawai'iloa, was on the deck of Hokule'a; he graciously accepted Francis's request to come on board, take pictures, and make measurements to make a model of the canoe.

Present that day was also Ben Finney, a renowned anthropologist known for his expertise in Polynesian navigation and canoe sailing and a founder of the POLYNESIAN VOYAGING SOCIETY. Having the opportunity to meet and interact with these influential individuals solidified Francis's determination to contribute to preserving and celebrating Polynesian culture.

Inspired by the rich history and significance of the Hokule'a, Francis embarked on a personal endeavor to construct scaled-down replicas of Polynesian canoes. Francis's passion for accuracy and authenticity drove him to study the many canoe types across Oceania and their construction methods, materials, and designs to ensure the utmost fidelity in his creations.

Through tedious craftsmanship and unwavering dedication, Francis painstakingly constructed these scaled-down models starting in 1993, seeking to capture every intricate detail that made Hokule'a and other Polynesian canoes such marvels of maritime engineering. From the elegant curves of the hull to the intricate lashings and rigging systems, each model was a testament to Francis's commitment to reviving the art of traditional Polynesian canoebuilding.

Word of Francis's remarkable craftsmanship soon spread, and enthusiasts, collectors, art galleries, and famous interior designers marveled at the exquisite replicas he had and still creates. His scaled-down canoes became cherished pieces of art, bridging the gap between past and present and serving as symbolic reminders of the extraordinary achievements of Polynesian navigators.

HOKULE’A in the lobby of the FOUR SEASONS HOTEL RESORT, MALAMA BAY, LANAI, HAWAII

Home and Garden TV (HGTV) featured Francis Pimmel and his work on their nationwide show "MODERN MASTERS" on November 4, 2001. Details on HGTV.com


PRICING

PRICING.When it comes to creating a model, such as a model canoe, the key factor that affects its cost is its size. This is because the size of the model determines the level of detailing required, which is a labor-intensive process. So, if your 12-inch model costs $200.00, you cannot simply use three as a multiplier for your 36-inch model, since it is much more detailed and requires more work.

MO'OLELE CANOE

I was recently commissioned to build a scale model of the MO’OLELE. I have never seen this canoe in real nor did I have a lot of material to work on it. Actually I found a total of 3 videos about Mo’olele of which one was instructive regarding the rigging of the sail while the other gave me finally an answer as to how many seats were installed within each hull and the shape of the spreaders. Beside all this I had to calculate the dimension of the hull, the beam of the canoe and draw lines, What surprised me most while doing the drawings is that contrary not only to how Hawaiian sailing or voyaging canoes were supposedly built but also to hydrodynamic laws, the deck at the front of the vessel was parallel to its draft while the deck at the stern was raised. It did not make sense to me from a maritime architectural point of view at all and I would love to hear from anybody involved in the construction of Mo’olele why the deck was raised at the stern and not at the bow of the vessel.

Line drawing of the Mo'olele

Line drawing of the Mo’olele

About CANOES OF OCEANIA by Haddon & Hornell

There is no doubt that “Canoes of Oceania” by A.C. Haddon and James Hornell, Volume I, II and III is the authoritative source on canoes having sailed across all islands of the Pacific Ocean , from Hawaii down to New-Zealand and from the Philippines to Easter Island.  The various canoes from Polynesia, Micronesia and Melanesia are described in minute details sometimes difficult to understand or visualize.

I really love to go into “Canoes of Oceania” in order to get an overall picture of the vessel in question.

But once I decide which canoe to replicate in a scale down version, the 2 volumes written by Jean Neyret in 1976  entitled PIROGUES OCEANIENNES provide a trove of extremely easy to understand descriptions and drawings about the hundreds of different type of canoes ever built across Oceania.

Whereby the writing by Haddon & Hornell is very academic, at least this is how I feel it to be,  the one by Jean Neyret is easy to read and nearly every construction detail is illustrated with  numerous drawings.

But it just occurred to me that not everybody is fluent in French because obviously PIROGUES OCEANIENNES is written in French and was never translated into English.  Say no more !

The 2 volumes by Jean Neyret are illustrated in the books section.

About Austronesian canoes

For the last few days I was reading the work “WANGKA The Austronesian Canoe Origins” written by Edwin Doran, Jr., with a foreword by Ben R, Finney.  While going over the pages I came across a line drawing of a typical Sulu Archipelago double outrigger.  The Sulu Archipelago is a chain of islands in the Southwestern Philippines that forms the northern limit of the Celebes Sea and which is predominantly Muslim.

For most Filipino a canoe, regardless of its type, is just a “banca”. But the Sulu double outriggers are of the type vinta nardi rigged with spritsails of exceptional beauty.  Further study of this particular type of vessel led me to discover, online, copies of 18th Century drawings of more than 280 different type of canoes, whether single or double outriggers, dugouts or double canoes distributed all along the South East Asia, from Taiwan to Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, East Timor, the Philippines, Borneo, Indonesia, Brunei, Java, Bali, Singapore, Orchid Island. That multitude of canoes and the familiar sight of their outriggers and floats, not mentioning common words used by the Tao of Orchid Island and Maori in New Zealand,  cannot but live you with the undeniable impression that the Polynesian, Micronesian and Melanesian have all their origin in South East Asia.

Sulu Canoe

Sulu Canoe

Over the last 20 years I did build up a large collection of books, archival papers and photos about Oceanic and Austronesian canoes but little did I expect to be able to add another 280 drawings . I cannot wait to replicate some of them, in particular the Sulu type canoe.

About Writing

Have not been writing much in the last 2 years and this for 2 reasons.

When you have been working hard the whole day, I mean physically, the mind , at the end of the day, is just not geared to sit down and write stuff, although I would want to talk about my work, the more so since I like what I am doing.

My day starts at 5.00 am. Checking emails, do paper work, do garden and yard work for about 2 hours starting sunrise, and after that work on some canoe models until 5.00 PM. The garden work is good physical exercise, I really love it. Some, who may watch me carving or sanding a larger canoe hull will say that this looks very physical as well, that it is hard work. But it is a different kind of physical activity, monotonous, standing or sitting at the same place for hours , the arm going back and forth, the fingers holding the carving tools or clenching sandpaper. After a few minutes of this I always need a brief stoppage. At the end of the day, the shoulders are hurting, the fingers are somewhat stiff , the mind and body ready to relax.

Another reason is a kind of incertitude regarding my written English, I always feel not being very good at it, making grammatical errors that will make me look silly. But isn’t it that what we have to say is more important than some stupid grammatical errors? Suffice is to say that English is not my mother tongue. I speak and write fluent French and German which is more than  what most people can do, so I hope I will be forgiven to sometimes fracture grammatical rules.

Honoliuliu Trail

A day up the Honoliuliu trail  along the Waianae mountains with my brother-in-law Ralph Morelli, computer science professor at Trinity College, CT, and author of Java, Java, Java, Object-Orientated Problem solving, and Duane B. former researcher, Dept. of Tropical Plant and  Soil science, University of Hawaii at Manoa and myself.

Honoliuliu Trail

Honoliuliu Trail

The most common trees along that trail are species of Eucalyptus, a lot of Silky Oak, also called Lacewood, and curiously enough a few Bunya Bunya trees, a conifer species closely allied to pines, redwoods and other primitive trees. Queensland, Australia, is the tree native land.  Once prized in Hawaii, its wood was used for ships masts and spars.

Asmat Mask

I do not believe in gambling or in the stock market…well maybe yes if I would have money to burn. But I truly believe that there are treasures out there for one to scoop up, provided one is knowledgeable in the field in question, and keeps his eyes and ears wide open.

In my time studying the canoes of Oceania I also gain knowledge about the culture and traditions of the people building those vessels.

So when visiting an antique shop on Oahu a few days ago my eyes were immediately attracted by a dark stained wooden mask lying on a chair. I took the mask in my hands and realized immediately that this is an old mask, and not a contemporary sculpted one.

Old Asmat Ceremonial Mask, Papua New Guinea

Old Asmat Ceremonial Mask, Papua New Guinea

I asked how much? Well, I’ll give it to you for $20.00 said the shop keeper. I handed her the money.

I knew of course that the mask in question is an old Sepic ceremonial mask dating to 1930-40, and therefore extremely valuable. The Asmat tribe is notorious for head-hunting, residing in West-Papua (Irian Jaya).

The Asmat people are considered the best wood carver of the stone age, creating intricately carved canoes, including model canoes that they offer to their ancestors. Important collections of Asmat Art are located at the Ethnographic Museum of Heidelberg, Basel and Neufchatel.

Hokule’a

It happens frequently, when surfing online about canoes, amongst others Hawaiian voyaging, surfing or racing canoes, that I come across websites using the picture of one of my earlier Hokule’a model as an attention getter. 

Some companies or webmasters asked permission to publish that picture on their site, others did not.

This scale model of the Hokule’a is one of my creations and it belongs to a private collection .

I am not aware that it is for sale at any art galleries on the islands of Hawaii.     

Back on the “block”

Was it writers block or busy doing other things? I believe it’s a bit of both. Anyway I am back on the block after a sabbatical lasting a few months. I really like this word “sabbatical” as it translates with “Forshungsurlaub” in German, which really means a vacation of studies and research! Well, this is exactly what I have been up to ever since bailing out the water from my flooded workshop.

Never short of work been commissioned to build model canoes of Oceania, I also spent much time and effort building up my photo albums on Flickr and Picasa. Most recent photos do illustrate 2 very beautiful surfing canoes and a Samoan one man fishing canoe been auctioned at Niketown in Waikiki.

The Hawaiian canoes were quite old, carved out of Koa tree logs.

Need a workout?

If living in Hawaii is a dream for many, dealing with flash floods and landslides is not what most people think about our islands.

It all happened very fast, just a few days ago on December 11th at 5.30 AM.

The heavens opened up to torrential rain causing extensive flash flooding and a landslide just on top of my property.  Within minutes a river of mud, rocks and other detritus run into my sloppy backyard and towards my front gate. I did not realize that the mud and branches will get stuck at the gate and therefore stop the proper flow of the mud and water. The water level rose so fast that in no time it runs into my workshop, flooding machinery, lumber, templates etc.

Towards 10.00 PM the rain stopped and it is only than that the extend of the damage caused by the flash flood became apparent to me. My yard was filled with 2 feet of mud.

My pick-up truck was stuck in the mud, so was another car, my drive-way was busted and the roots of a gigantic Albizia tree were laid bare.

First thing first, I immediately started to pump out the one foot of water that had flooded my workshop and installed fans and heaters to dry some motors . But clearing the mud and rocks will take days. I guess that at the rate of 2 hours a day this will be a good and cost free workout. Want to join ?

Flooded table saw, planer etc.

Flooded table saw, planer etc.

Sail away

What happen with my 28″ Hawaiian double hull voyaging canoe you may ask ? 

Well I had to make a new sail and finished the rigging by August.. A few days later the canoe was sold and sailing, or rather shipped, to a collector on the mainland. And here I am again, thinking about a more efficient, more hydrodynamic racing canoe..

Days 3 to 12

Ten days have gone by since writing my last post. The building of the 28 inch double hull canoe I had designed a few days ago was finished yesterday August 2nd with the rigging being the remaining task to be done.


I was near to mount the sail today would it not have been for a moment of inattention.
 

Indeed I had spend several hours crafting the sail when, within a fraction of a second everything went to waste. In wanting to clean the sail I somehow lifted one corner of it to fast and it broke. That was the end of that. I will have to make a new sail tomorrow.
 

Otherwise I am very satisfied with the canoe. I used highly figured Koa for the bow and stern tops as well as for the stacked up rims.

Day 3

The entire day I was occupied in finishing a Solomon Island war canoe, the famous “Tomako” used to go hunting for ‘heads”. But this model has been commissioned to serve as a gift to be offered to a famous author about Pacific history and culture. I am posting here a picture of the prow ornaments of the canoe but further details can be seen in my Hawaiiancanoes Flickr album. I have a special liking for the Solomon Islands canoes.

Indeed I find them to be some of the most gracious canoes ever built in the South Pacific. Ingeniously plank built, rather than carved, the prow and stern of those war canoes are exceptionally tall and beautifully decorated with shells and feathers, as well as with the famous nguzu-nguzu figure. Another type of canoe very similar to the Tomako, and plank built as well, is the Filipino banca (boat) from Lake Taal.


If their hull shape and impressive prow and stern looks very much alike the Tomaka, they differ however in that the Tomako has no beams and floats whereby the Filipino banca is invariably equipped with a set of 2 double outriggers, sometimes 3 for the larger bancas. And again, there is a further type of canoe whose hull shape and construction is remarkably similar to the two previous ones, and this is the Perahu katir from Java.

After spending most of the day on the Tomako model, I hurried to draw the lines for the 2 hulls of the voyaging canoe as viewed from top. Without that set of line drawings I would not be able to calculate the height of the beams nor have a proper idea regarding the shape and width of the beams.