some reference material describing the sending out of several canoes
and only one returning. The idea of sailing against the wind is an age-
old one, sometimes hard to prove 3000 years later.
Picture at the cite.
Insights into original explorers
5:00AM Saturday June 28, 2008
By Craig Borley
Professors Richard Flay (left) and Geoffrey Irwin look on as wind
tunnel manager David le Pelley makes adjustments to the model of an
ancestral canoe. Photo / Brett Phibbs
A replica 3000-year-old Pacific canoe, modelled on the world's first
ocean-going vessels, has been tested in a world-leading Auckland wind
tunnel.
Preliminary results show the canoes of the type sailed from New Guinea
to Fiji, Tonga and Samoa about 1000BC were so well designed they could
probably sail against the wind.
The 3m-long scale model has been tested and analysed in the University
of Auckland's Tamaki campus wind tunnel, famed for its role in
America's Cup yacht design.
The project, a joint venture between the university's engineering and
archaeology departments, was set up to end a long-running debate:
whether the first ocean explorers depended on luck or design to get to
their destinations.
The team used archaeological and linguistic evidence to design the
canoe, a design they believe is most likely to have made the world's
first major ocean-going voyages.
The original canoes' construction would have required immense amounts
of labour, depended on specialised stone adzes, and used kilometres of
cord, mechanical engineering professor Richard Flay said.
Its sailors set out against prevailing southeast trade winds, with
probably 12 or more passengers, livestock, and potted plants.
Leaving such a trip to the chance of winds, tides and the hope of an
El Nino weather pattern is one of the two major theories, Professor
Flay said.
The second theory surmised the sailors and boatbuilders were highly
skilled, and sailed where they wanted to go with extensive control of
their vessels.
The evidence being gleaned from the wind tunnel tests supported that
theory, showing the vessels could be steered by skilled mariners,
archaeology professor Geoff Irwin said.
The population base of the Lapita people who made the epic voyages was
low, yet they colonised a vast ocean very quickly, adding weight to
the argument their sailing and boat-building skills were significantly
further advanced than any one else at the time.
"If it's kamikaze canoes, the losses have got to be huge, because it's
an empty ocean. But the attrition can't have been much. I think their
losses have been fairly slim. They must have been able to sail."
The Pacific sailors reached America about 1000 years ago, all but
completing their exploration of the world's biggest ocean.
At the same time, Viking sailors were reaching the northeast coast of
America, still at the beginning of their ocean-roaming exploits.
The scale model being tested was based on a 14m long, 1.2m diameter
dug-out log, lined on its upper sides with planks to stop water
splashing in.
It was supported by outriggers on either side, making it virtually
impossible to roll. Its two-spar rigging system allowed the wind's
power to go through one spar to the hull, while the second spar could
be used to trim the sail and adjust to conditions.
"They could alter the sails depending on the heading they wanted to go
in, to get the fastest speed," Professor Irwin said
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10518760
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