A fleet of modern sailaus sail past spectators on the Watts Island beach
An outrigger gets airborne above the waves
“Sailors demonstrate how to spectacularly ride the waves in a tilted craft with one side airborne by a metre or so above the water for minutes at a time”
such unique and untold stories from the Massim culture with visitors is one of the reasons why the KKUS or Kwaraiwa Kwateya Udi Sailau Festival (translation: Watts Island Yam Banana Sailing Canoe Festival) was held on the island for the first time last year, and which is back this year on September 6-7. Despite its small land mass and population of only 600 people, Watts Island is part of an area that is huge in reputation as the home of master sailors. The three master sailors who featured in Danish filmmaker Thor F. Jensen’s award-winning 2023
documentary Sailau , about the world’s first circumnavigation of the island of New Guinea in a traditional 9m sailing canoe named Tawali Pasana in 2016-17, were all from nearby Basilaki Island, and share the same Bwanabwana language and culture of the Watts Islanders. On a 6300km voyage that took more than brother Justin John and friend Job Siyae, along with their apprentice Thor, dodged high seas, treacherous reefs, pirate waters, witchcraft and crocodiles in a craft powered only by wind and paddle. During the KKUS a year, lead sailor Sanakoli John, his
Festival, it is not just the handcrafted canoes – carved from local rosewood and red cedar trees and with sails made of pandanus leaves or modern fabric such as plastic tarpaulins or bits of rice bags sewn together – that are on show. The biggest drawcard is the sailing skill and agility of the Watts Islanders and fellow competitors from neighbouring islands, with visitors able to watch demonstrations and races from the shore of Yanua Mesinale
(Mission Station), or accompany sailors themselves on a wild ride of a lifetime out to sea. Visitors are shown how to hoist a sail, the types of ropes used, how to control the speed and to turn canoes in the water, and how to spectacularly ride the waves in a tilted craft with one side airborne by a metre or so above the water for minutes at a time. One of the greatest skills of the Massim sailors is being able to
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