Thirty-five hundred years ago-well before trucks were invented, let alone GPS-sailors went on trips that lasted thousands of miles over shark-infested open ocean and in all sorts of weather, including typhoons, baking heat and relentless rain.
The sailors got to and populated the islands of the Pacific without, obviously, electronics, but even without maps. "Star navigators" relied on their knowledge of the stars, and the ability to "read" waves, to get from one place to another-and to stay alive while doing it.
The best star navigators were from Satawal, a Micronesian island near Yap, although the art largely died out until the 1970s, when a master navigator from Satawal named Mau Piailug started teaching star navigation to some Hawaiians.
Piailug is now part of a group starting a star navigation school on Satawal so that the knowledge will be codified and available forever, to anyone who wants to learn. The school will be moved to Yap after one pilot year.
Andrew Yatilman is helping to start the Satawal school, and has already sailed on a number of star navigation trips. Andrew-who loves these trips-describes them as "challenging and often times difficult." The canoes are tiny-every sailor's space is not much bigger than his body. And because the trip lengths are dependent on factors outside the sailors' control-like wind and weather-food and water must be strictly rationed. These uncomfortable conditions are partly by design. "The canoe is so small that you're always alert, always on the lookout for things that may endanger the trip."
Even with this hyper-vigilance, each trip begins with the acknowledgment that this trip may be the last: "At this point, all your responsibilities and anything dear to you on that land have been put behind you. Everything you left behind is now of the past."
But for all the sailors' acknowledgment that the past is gone, part of the appeal of these star navigation journeys is the chance to connect with ancestors who died on their own canoe trips, as well as to create new star navigation stories for their progeny: "It's the sailors' turn to make another story for their descendents to come."
If this sounds not-so-compelling for those of us whose ancestors never went anywhere near Micronesia, the star navigation school's opening means that future generations will find lots of new stories to sing about.
Heavenly Guidance
How the stars can help you find your way
Even if you aren't anxious to haul out-without electronics-onto the open ocean for an indeterminate number of weeks, some of what the star navigators do can help you with your trucking.
Chat it up. According to Yatilman, on their long trips, the star navigators pass the time by talking nearly constantly. Through the whole trip, says Yatilman, "You're talking stories and reminiscing about the past. When you sight land, you've lost count of the days." So pick up the CB and don't put it down if you want to keep yourself occupied, star navigator-style.
Pay attention to diet. Two ways the star navigators keep themselves alert are sleeping in uncomfortable positions and rationing food and water intake. No one would tell you to sleep on the floor. But to stay on the ball, pay close attention to which foods make you groggy-and then avoid those foods when you need to be driving, even if it means skipping the great-looking apple pie. Also take care to get the right amount of sleep for you-the right amount varies from person to person, but most people need between 6.5 and 9 hours of sleep per night to stay on their toes.
Look up for guidance. You've got the benefit of GPS-and, even lower tech, street signs. But if you're lost on an unmarked back road late at night, how are you going to know which way to go? Find the two stars making the outer part of the Big Dipper's bowl. Imagine a line shooting from those two stars up (always up), and you'll see Polaris, the North Star. In North America at night, Polaris will always show you which way is north. During the day, use a compass.
