Walap
Encyclopedia
The Walap is a traditional ocean-going sailboat
from the Marshall Islands
.
It belongs to the Micronesian proa
type whose main characteristics are: single main hull, outrigger-mounted float/ballast, and asymmetric hull profile. Walaps have a lee platform.
Like all pacific proas, they are always sailed with the outrigger to windward, they do not tack but "shunt" (reverse direction), so both ends of the boat are identical. The distinction between bow and stern depends only on the actual direction of the boat.
Walaps are not dugouts, only the keel is made of a single bread-fruit log when possible, and the rest are planks sewn together with coconut-fiber lashings, sealed with tree sap.
There are three main types of marshallese sailing canoes:
korkor: a small rowing/sailing canoe used for fishing and transportation in the atoll lagoons. It has a crew of one or two. Used nowadays in very popular regattas.
tipnol: a medium-sized sailing canoe. Used for travel and fishing in the lagoons and short distance voyaging over open water. Minimum crew is two, may transport up to ten passengers.
walap: a large, blue-water sailing canoe, reaching up to 30 m in length and able to carry up to 50 people and food supplies. Used mainly for inter-atoll voyaging.
These types can vary in design, mainly slenderness of the hull, draft deep and hull-profile asymmetry.
Five recognized styles exist: taburbur, malmel, mwijwitok, tojeik and jekad.
Walaps may well represent the most advanced sailing technology of all stone-age cultures, only equaled by Fiji's drua
.
from the Marshall Islands
Marshall Islands
The Republic of the Marshall Islands , , is a Micronesian nation of atolls and islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, just west of the International Date Line and just north of the Equator. As of July 2011 the population was 67,182...
.
Proa
A proa, also seen as prau, perahu, and prahu, is a type of multihull sailing vessel.While the word perahu and proa are generic terms meaning boat their native language, proa in Western languages has come to describe a vessel consisting of two unequal length parallel hulls...
type whose main characteristics are: single main hull, outrigger-mounted float/ballast, and asymmetric hull profile. Walaps have a lee platform.
Like all pacific proas, they are always sailed with the outrigger to windward, they do not tack but "shunt" (reverse direction), so both ends of the boat are identical. The distinction between bow and stern depends only on the actual direction of the boat.
Walaps are not dugouts, only the keel is made of a single bread-fruit log when possible, and the rest are planks sewn together with coconut-fiber lashings, sealed with tree sap.
There are three main types of marshallese sailing canoes:
korkor: a small rowing/sailing canoe used for fishing and transportation in the atoll lagoons. It has a crew of one or two. Used nowadays in very popular regattas.
tipnol: a medium-sized sailing canoe. Used for travel and fishing in the lagoons and short distance voyaging over open water. Minimum crew is two, may transport up to ten passengers.
walap: a large, blue-water sailing canoe, reaching up to 30 m in length and able to carry up to 50 people and food supplies. Used mainly for inter-atoll voyaging.
These types can vary in design, mainly slenderness of the hull, draft deep and hull-profile asymmetry.
Five recognized styles exist: taburbur, malmel, mwijwitok, tojeik and jekad.
Walaps may well represent the most advanced sailing technology of all stone-age cultures, only equaled by Fiji's drua
Drua
Drua, also known as Na Drua, N'drua, Ndrua or Vaka Tepu , is a double-hull sailing boat that originated in the south-western Pacific islands. Druas do not tack but rather shunt . Both ends of each hull are identical, but the hulls are of different sizes and the smaller one is always sailed to...
.