Sho-Bans in the Spotlight: Elilai Sugiyama completes 6,200-mile journey on Pacific Ocean
Elilai Sugiyama on board the Alingano Maisu on the Pacific Ocean.
By LORI ANN EDMO
Sho-Ban News
FORT HALL — Elilai Sugiyama has experienced the most incredible experience of her life going on a 6,200 nautical mile journey across the Pacific Ocean yearning for a deeper connection with nature, culture and herself.
She is Shoshone-Bannock and Palauan and was among 13 seafaring crew members aboard the canoe Alingano Maisu that left Palau February 15 and returning back May 11. “When I first saw Maisu, I saw the big paddle on the back of the canoe and was intrigued. I learned about Maisu’s history - found it inspiring and incredible,” she said.
Later she started to work with some of the crew and saw the love and yearning they had for sailing and it made her curious to know what it’s like. “I took some classes from our captain and was asked if I would like to join the voyage and I had no hesitation as it had been a dream since I first saw Maisu.”
Alingano Maisu crew members at they take the journey on the Pacific Ocean.
Alingano Maisu is a double hulled Polynesian style canoe with some Satawalese features. It navigates by traditional navigation using only sea signs of the stars, wind, ocean swells and other natural signs when sailing. In canoe culture Alingano Maisu is seen “as our mother, our navigator is our father and all aboard are brothers and sisters,” she continued.
Elilai said the longest she was on the water was for 14 days from Palau to Taiwan. “It took us 12 days to see land.” She left the crew in Okinawa and they sailed from Okinawa with the plan of going to Guam the Satawal (the home island of maisu the canoe) then Yap then Palau. But because of typhoons in the area, their captain Sesario rerouted three times and decided to return to Palau because of the storms. They left Okinawa April 4 and arrived in Palau May 11.
She said their storage for food and supplies are in the hulls. They also sleep on hammocks that hang in the hulls above the dry hatches.
Elilai Sugiyama wearing a floral lei where the Alingano Maisu is docked.
Her Micronesian Voyaging Society profile said she is a member of Palau’s national women’s outrigger team. Elilai practices traditional seafaring skills – from weaving sails to carving hulls – and shares her deep knowledge of Palau’s culture, waters and native species. Ocean and land both run in her story.
The voyage was led by Grandmaster Navigator Sesario Sewralur aboard the Alingano Maisu, a traditional canoe originally built in Hawaii as a gift to his father legendary Micronesian navigator Pius “Mau” Piailug, whose teachings helped revive traditional Polynesian and Micronesian wayfinding according to the Guam Daily Post.
Elilai Sugiyama at the closing ceremony after the journey on the Alingano Maisu.
Sewralur trained 13 younger sailors in celestial navigation, weather reading, sail handling and decision making at sea. The expedition vessel also serves as floating classroom as a platform for education programs, youth mentorship and marine science activities including environmental observation, along with data collection along the route. At each stop, the crew engaged with schools, universities and community leaders.
Elilai said the seafaring journey was, “the most genuine form of life I’ve ever felt.”
She is a daughter of KayLee Brower of Fort Hall and her father is Kennard T. Sugiyama from Palau.
At the Alingano Maisu closing ceremony, the social media post said the journey showed the strength of traditional navigation and spirit of seafaring heritage.
