SIGHTINGS we the voyagers As the legend goes, the ancient Polynesian culture hero, Lata, followed his friend, a forest bird, deep into the jungle to find a tree. Lata was inspired to build a voyaging canoe, and selection of the right wood was paramount. The forest bird showed Lata the right tree, and he felled it and went home for the night. But the next day, Lata found that very same tree was upright again. He felled it again and again. But every morning, the tree was standing tall again. Hina, the goddess of the forest, then informed Lata that it was her tree. Lata learned to ask permission before cutting a tree. From Lata's ancient story, people can still learn how to go about voyaging. A documentary called We the Voyagers, a rough cut of which will soon be shown in Belvedere in August, tells the story of how the legcontinued on outside column of next sightings page
golden globe Joshua skipper, who had sailed from Plymouth, UK, six weeks after Suhaili left Falmouth (45 miles farther west) knew that the race was lost as far as being first to sail solo nonstop around the globe, even before crossing the Dateline. He continued east because by then he was at one with the sea and had no wish to return to an increasingly commercial world. Jean-Michel Barrault, Moitessier's confidante and biographer said, "Europe made him sick, as if his senses had picked up the fetid smell of the Dragon. The stink
From top right: Chief Kaveia as a younger man; the 'Vaka o Lata' under sail; a 'fleet' of 'Vaka o Latas' on the beach; young people are key to the survival of traditional, noninstrument navigation; Kaveia (center) as an older man.
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Latitude 38
• August, 2018