500 Sails turns 10

500 Sails turns 10 and continues to revive, promote, and preserve maritime cultural traditions of the Marianas.

Milton Coleman Jr., executive director, said, "We here in our islands had not seen a Chamorro sailing canoe in my lifetime and actually in over 270+ years. So to see it come to fruition and now have a fleet of Chamorro sailing canoes along with a brand new modern replica of a Carolinian canoe it is just awesome because the name 500 Sails is about helping to bring back the number of traditional canoes on the water."

Coleman reflects on the progress of the community organization as it turns 10 years old this week. Their aim: to revive, promote, and preserve the maritime cultural traditions of the Mariana Islands through community engagement in canoe culture and activities.

Pete Perez is a co-founder of 500 Sails and said, "The first canoe that we were involved in it was a joint venture between us and Mario Borja and the Chamorro community in San Diego built Che’lu. And since then we are not up to 10 canoes that can be on the water and we have four more in the making and we have plans for an awful lot more."

The community will come together on Friday at Crowne Plaza Resort Saipan to celebrate the milestone. And it’ll be a unique celebration with a chance to win a trip for two to Pagan for a three-day stay and even a fishing package with five local fishing masters. They’re sights are set on the future.

Co-founder Emma Perez said, "The past ten years was to revive things. I think the next ten years king of answers the question: what if? What if we had not lost our canoes? What would our culture, what would our communities look like?...what is the best days were ahead of us instead of instead of back hundreds of years? So I think that the next ten years I hope that we can look at getting to that -- the best days of our people."