Nominating Austronesian wayfinding culture for
UNESCO World Heritage status.
Some knowledge cannot be stored in a library. It lives in the body. In the stars. In the ocean. And it can only survive if someone is willing to carry it.
Twenty Years.
One Unbroken Mission.
Since 2008, the Micronesian Voyaging Society has sailed every year. Not for spectacle. For transmission. Each voyage is a living transfer of knowledge — from master to apprentice, from one generation to the next. The route changes. The mission does not.
The canoe is called Alingano Maisu —
in Micronesian, the breadfruit blown from the tree by the wind. Knowledge returned to the ground, made accessible to everyone.
20
Years of voyaging
6,200
Nautical miles
3,000+
Years of voyaging
The Living Legacy
From Mau, to Sesario,
to Moss.
"Legacy is not given. It is carried."
Three generations. One unbroken line of knowledge. Still moving.
01
Mau Piailug
Grand Master Navigator · Satawal
In 1976, he guided Hōkūleʻa from Hawaiʻi to Tahiti with no instruments. He chose to open ancestral knowledge his family had guarded for generations, so it would not disappear. That decision sparked a cultural renaissance across the entire Pacific.
02
Sesario Sewralur
Captain · Grand Master Navigator
Mau's son. He grew up watching his father carry responsibility for an entire oceanic tradition. Today he captains the Alingano Maisu — the canoe gifted to Mau by Hawaiʻi in gratitude — and teaches the next generation to read the stars.
03
Moss Sewralur
Crew Member · Next Generation
Sesario's son. What Mau carried was passed to Sesario. What Sesario carries is now being passed to Moss. This is not inheritance. It is responsibility. Memory becoming movement.
STARS AND WAVES:
THE MEMORY OF THE OCEAN.
Traditional Austronesian wayfinding is one of the most sophisticated navigation systems ever developed. It crossed the largest ocean on Earth. It survived colonization, war, and the deliberate erasure of Indigenous knowledge.
MVS is working toward the nomination of this living tradition for UNESCO World Heritage status — a permanent global recognition that says:
This is not folklore.
This is civilization.
And it belongs to all of us.
The 20th Voyage of
Alingano Maisu.
Every voyage that sails is evidence for that nomination. Every partner who joins is proof that the world agrees it matters.
0
Engines · GPS · Weapons
8
Ports of call
6,200
Nautical miles
100+
Days at sea
The 2026 Pacific Voyage — Happening Now
2026 VOYAGE ROUTE
This voyage is the 20th.
There will be a 21st.
And a 22nd.
Every year the canoe sails.
Every year the knowledge passes on.
Every year the case for UNESCO recognition grows stronger.
Corporate Partnership
Sail With Us.
Protect What Matters.
Your partnership does two things at once — it keeps the canoe sailing every year, and it builds the global case for UNESCO recognition of Austronesian wayfinding culture.
01
UNESCO Documentation
Assist Palau in drafting UNESCO ICH nomination documents and compiling supporting materials.
02
Digital Archive
Create a multilingual Austronesian Voyaging Culture Digital Archive — preserving knowledge for future generations.
03
Youth Training
Train Palauan youth and cultural workers to lead advocacy efforts and carry the tradition forward.
04
International Forum
Foster international partnerships via a cultural forum in Palau — connecting Pacific nations and global advocates.
Sail the Ocean
Your company logo on the sail of Alingano Maisu, crossing 6,200 miles of open Pacific
An invitation for your representative to join the voyage at a port of call
Your name as a founding corporate partner in MVS's UNESCO legacy mission
Additional partnership opportunities available — contact us to discuss.
TO INVEST IN WHAT THE
WORLD WILL STILL NEED
A GENERATION FROM NOW.
The stars remain.
The ocean remembers.
The legacy lives on.
Mau Piailug chose to open what had been kept closed. Not because it was easy. Because it was necessary.
Every company that has ever built something worth keeping has made the same kind of choice.