The Chamorro Flying Proa is an educational constructional project by two leading Chamorro organizations: Chamorro Hands in Education Links Unity, Inc. (CHE'LU, Inc.), (formerly The San Diego Chamorro Cultural Center-SDCCC), and Sakman Chamorro, Inc., a CNMI nonprofit organization who are collaborating to revive the lost Chamorro art of canoe building and sailing.
Our common goal is not only to revive this vital period of our Chamorro history, we are teaching our youths and adults the art of canoe building and sailing while building the Flying Proa at each location.
The leads for the canoe building project is Mario R. Borja (CHE'LU, Inc.) and Noel Quitugua (Sakman Chamorro, Inc.)
The Flying Proa Swim Relay Team is a special fundraising event for the Flying Proa made up of seven swimmers from CNMI and Guam who will be swimming the English Channel led by Pete Perez (founder of Chamorro.com)....Please click here to read more on the Swim Team.
The History of the Flying Proa...The Chamorro flying proa was once so numerous in the Marianas that 17th Century Europeans wrote in their journals of the hundreds of proas that could be seen plying the waters up and down the Marianas. The Europeans had never seen anything like it in Europe nor in all of Oceania. There were no sailing vessels that could come near to matching its speed. Sometimes exceeding 40 feet in length, they were capable of speeds in excess of 20 knots!
In their efforts to suppress the Chamorro people, the Spanish forbade
the Chamorros to sail on the open ocean, and by the mid 1700s the
flying proa ceased to exist. One of the last to be seen was captured
in 1742 by Lord Anson of the English ship "Centurion", when a Spaniard
and four Chamorros sailed a flying proa out to meet the Centurion off
of Tinian. The Centurion's expedition draftsman made a detailed
drawing of the flying proa with precise measurements. Soon afterwards,
Lord Anson ordered the proa burned so that it could not be used to
sail to Guam to notify the Spanish of the English presence in the islands.
The Chamorro flying proa, a Chamorro invention, was the fastest
sailing vessel in the world. In many ways it symbolizes the
creativity, independence and ingenuity of the Chamorro people. It was
taken away from the Chamorro people by force and its loss was
catastrophic to Chamorro society. What SDCCC and Sakman Chamorro intends to
do is to return what was taken from the Chamorro people centuries ago. We
want to bring back the tradition of building and sailing large canoes.This
is not an easy goal, but it is achievable.
Although no Chamorrof lying proa has beenseen for over two and a half centuries,
we have the Anson drawing, we have numerous eye-witness written accounts and
descriptions of the flying proa, we have archeological findings, we have knowledge
of Micronesian methods of canoe-building that have not changed for centuries,
and most important of all, we still have
Chamorro ingenuity and a strong determination to succeed.
back to top .or..back to Home page...or. donate
PLEASE HELP TODAY
Your monetary contribution is tax-deductible through SDCCC is greatly needed, and appreciated. Your contribution will assist our lead organizations in meeting our goal of educating our youths and adults during the building of the "Flying Proa", a vital period of our Chamorro history which needs to be revived, told and taught!
To make a donation by credit card or Pay Pal account please click on the "make a donation" button. Note: Type "Flying Proa" in the item box at Pay Pal. Si Yu'us Ma'ase! (Thank you!)
