By Bob Krauss
Advertiser Columnist

MAJURO, Marshall Islands — Eight of the fastest sailing canoes in the world staged a neck-and-neck race Friday down Majuro Lagoon in a revival of an ancient chiefly tradition in the Marshall Islands.

They sailed against a fresh northeast trade wind, covering about 20 miles tacking back and forth over a 10-mile course for an average speed of about 12 knots (15 mph).

"These Marshall Island canoes sail faster than the wind," said Dennis Alessio, head of a canoe rejuvenation program in the Marshalls.

It's because of a unique hull design. The left side of the hull has a normal curve to the keel but the right side is flatter. The wind blowing over the outrigger pushes the flat side against the water, which puts opposite pressure on the curved side and lifts it like an airplane wing.ÊSo the canoes literally "fly" through the water.

The sail rig is unusual but not unique in the Pacific because it's also used in the Caroline atolls where navigator Mau Piailug lives.ÊAs in the Carolines, the mast is moveable. Instead of turning the canoe around when tacking across the wind, the two-man crew merely moves the mast from one end ofÊthe canoe to another. The outrigger is always to windward.

It takes long practice and skill. I watched the winner of the race shift the mast as smoothly as if he was shifting gears in a car. The sail moved across on the other tack, caught the wind that the canoe was sailing at 15 mph on the other tack in 10 seconds.

I also watched an inept crew lose the sail into the water. Ten minutes later, they were still struggling to get the mast raised and the canoe under way again.

Watching these canoes with their bright blue, yellow and red sails launch from the beach is a colorful sight against soaring palms and blue sky. They are as sleek as America's Cup yachts but are made from hand-hewn breadfruit wood. The sails I checked out were made of the cheap blue plastic people in Hawai'i buy to cover the back of their pickup trucks. Yet each sail is cut to a secret formula by the family that builds the canoe.

"Many of these canoes are owned by high chiefs," said James Bing, who turned his sleek launch into a press boat. "Canoe racing has always been a chiefly sport in the Marshall Islands."

This was the fifth annual Outrigger Marshall Islands National Cup, the premier sailing canoe race of some half a dozen now held in the Marshalls, composed of 29 atolls and five islands.

Two races were held , one for canoes 18 feet or over, the other for 18 feet or under. Crewman Koboj Langrine from Lae Atoll said there are 14 sailing canoes on his island, also four open, aluminum outboards. "Only the wealthy families can afford to buy motor boats," Langrine said. The canoes are used for fishing, for going to outer island to make copra, and for picnics.

Winner of the big canoe race, with a time of one hour and 38 minutes over the 10-mile course was Raak Jen Maan (Move Out of the Way) from Kwajelein, owned by high chief Anjna Leoak.