Manila - A group of Filipino adventurers is creating a stir across the Philippines, re-kindling national pride as they embark on an expedition to circumnavigate the world aboard a replica of an ancient wooden sailboat. Hundreds of Filipino outdoor enthusiasts cheered last week at a reclaimed area at Manila Bay where veteran mountaineer Art Valdez cut the rope that eased the replica vessel, named Balangay, into the sea.
"Since more than 2,000 years ago, this is the first time that a boat of this kind has appeared in these waters, built by our people," he said. "The boat is a time capsule that carries the history of our people."
Valdez will lead the group of Filipino adventurers in sailing around the world over a period of almost five years aboard the Balangay, christened the "Muse of the Philippine Race."
The voyage of the Balangay will retrace the migration of Philippine ancestors across oceans using only the wooden vessel, according to the organizers.
"Thousands of years ago, the ancestors of the Filipino people, the Austroneseans, travelled from the Asian mainland through land bridges across the continental shelf to the South-East Asian archipelago," a statement by the organizers said.
"They then sailed onward to as far east as Polynesia and as far west as Madagascar," the statement added.
Valdez, a former transportation undersecretary and leader of the country's first expedition to Mount Everest three years ago, said the epic sea voyage would highlight the Filipinos' seafaring skills.
"The inspiration for this project comes from the maritime achievements of our ancestors," he said at the launch. "Our people considered the sea as unifying rather than divisive."
Valdez added that the initiative is also a tribute to hundreds of thousands of Filipino mariners who are currently working as crew members on more than two-thirds of all sea vessels around the world.
"Our voyage aims to re-orient the psyche of our people that we are a maritime nation, and not land-based as our colonizers had led us to believe," he added.
The Balangay, measuring 15 metres long and three metres wide with a depth of about one metre, was copied from an ancient boat excavated in 1977 in Butuan City, 810 kilometres south of Manila.
Archeologists carbon-dated the fair weather, round-bottomed sailboat to 320 AD.
All materials used in building the replica of the Balangay were shipped from the southern island province of Tawi-Tawi, about 1,120 kilometres south of Manila.
Master craftsmen also from Tawi-Tawi built the vessel in 41 days, utilizing the ancient boat-building technique in which wooden planks are connected by pegs. Not a single nail was used.
The builders used natural resin from mangrove trees to make the vessel watertight.
Valdez said the expedition team will include the core members of the mountaineers who climbed Mount Everest, expert mariners and local tribesmen who will help in navigating the Balangay guided by the stars and other natural indicators.
He added that sailing the seas using ancient navigational guides such as the sun, stars, cloud formations, wind, birds and wave patterns will be one of the biggest challenges on the voyage.
Organizers said the voyage across the Philippine archipelago will be completed by the end of the year. The Balangay will sail to South-East Asia in 2010, to Polynesia and Madagascar in 2011, across the Pacific and onward to the Atlantic in 2012 and back to the Philippines in 2013.
"It is time to honour the Filipino pioneering spirit," Valdez said. "This epic voyage is yet another chance to inspire our countrymen and fellow Indo-Malays to believe in ourselves and in our oneness."
