The vast Pacific Ocean covers one third of the world’s surface, and the story of its exploration and settlement is an epic tale of human endeavour. The three key speakers are a fascinating mix…

"The AWBF is a celebration of our collective heritage. The 2025 theme allows us to explore our connection with the Pacific like never before, bringing visitors face-to-face with historic vessels and remarkable people from across the ocean. We hope to create a festival experience that feels both grand in its spectacle and intimate in its sense of community."

The Pacific proa configuration has many advantages, including considerably less load on the beams, and thus the rig.  Having the ama to windward, although seemingly counterintuitive, is actually safer, as its weight, combined with reserve buoyancy in the main hull’s leeward pod, makes the boat much more resistant to capsize.

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The trio of rafts travelled 14,000 kilometres across the Pacific Ocean from Ecuador to eventually and accidentally arrive at Ballina on Australia's east coast.

I was sitting on my bunk, looking out the hatch, and then, in a split second, my whole world was turned upside down. My view turned from blue sky to blue water, a huge crashing sound was heard, and Maiwar was capsized like a bath toy. There was no time for fear or even a communicable thought, it all happened so quickly.

When I first became interested, I thought that this taciturn Englishman was working in a space where eccentricity meets the counterculture…. Well-meaning hippies, who were fun to follow, but not to be taken too seriously. But the more I learned the more appreciative I became.

Tom and his immediate family are not much into the modern fashion for instantaneous communication. They’d much rather mull over a suitable answer or wait for the best time to send it than have a Pavlovian reaction to incoming mail.

Rather than trying to go south of New Caledonia on his way to the Queensland coast, Tom has elected to stay further north. While the shore team was not sure about this decision, they were pleased when meteorological guru Bob McDavitt suggested to Tom that he stay north where he could expect to experience better winds and fewer adverse currents

The thought of rowing nonstop back to Australia looks very attractive at the moment, in which case, I can expect to make landfall in Australia in about 120 days, perhaps a little less. But, of course, this is all conjecture.

That night the tide rose and the swell that was breaking on the reef outside came right into the harbour, the beach disappeared and at eleven o’clock at night I was trying to kedge Maiwar away from the rock wall she was pounding against. I cried out in desperation and exhaustion.

The goal of the voyage is to ignite a movement of 10 million “planetary navigators” by developing young leaders and engaging communities around the world to take part in navigating the earth towards a healthy, thriving future.

How far this next leg will take Tom we do not know. He is 3,000 nautical miles from Brisbane (roughly 100 days away at his first leg speed of 1.24 knots), 1,500 nautical miles from Fiji (50 days) and 870 nautical miles from Samoa (30 days)

All day the village worked, unloading everything imaginable for a settlement. There were building materials, outboard motors, bicycles and motorbikes, freezers, mattresses, and sacks of rice, flour and sugar - the essentials.

The people of Penrhyn are not new to looking after stranded sailors, and there are often stories told about the odd Japanese fishing boat that has been wrecked on the island, the most recent of which was in the last 15 years.

I somehow knew, deep down, that the sculptor within had work to do, and that any luxury or convenience, anything impure or extraneous, was a hindrance and distraction.

The sun was my constant. It was regular, beautiful, immense. I started asking for help. “Why are you testing me?” “When will you make it better for me?” “Why are you challenging me like this?”

MAIWAR slipped quietly into the lagoon at Penrhyn Island At 5 pm on Friday 9 December 2022 local time. This marked the completion of the first leg of Tom’s Pacific crossing.

A first voyage in 1976 represented a bold attempt at what is known as “experimental archaeology,” testing aspects of material culture, in this case an arcane boat type, in order to understand their function and practicality, so writes Duncan Blair.

During last week’s phone call he very excitedly told us about two of his most recent reads. He’s awarded “Greatest Book Ever” to Small Is Beautiful by E.F. Schumacher and “Most Favourite Book” to Henry David Thoreau’s Walden or Life in the Woods.